Many Years Have Passed
by crystaleyes
Summary: -HIATUS for editing- Five hundred years before FFX, Sin is more vicious then ever-- follow the journey of the only ones who can stop it....
1. Refusal

Hi Everyone! ~_^ I think a bit of an explanation is required for this. This is the story of a summoner's pilgrimage that happened 500 years before the game. Why? There are tons of stories during and after the game's story takes place, but very few before. I thought it would be fun, darn it. -_- This is really just an introduction, a prologue, persay.

Spira and that whole summoning concept are property of Squaresoft, not me.

Chapter One

Refusal

I stared down at my mug of tea. "I wish to become Sky's guardian."

When I heard nothing, I looked up. Mom was looking at me from her place by the counter chopping onions, and Father was doing the same. I cleared my throat. "I-"

"We heard you, Raika," Mom said. "No."

"But-" I stood up, pushing back my chair, then took a deep breath. Not thinking before I spoke was a problem of mine. "Why?"

"Honey, don't you think this is a little sudden?"

I glared. "I've been thinking about it for _six months_!"

"You're too young," Father said abruptly, and went back to his book. I glared at him, too.

"I'm fifteen! And Sky's only a year older, that's not much! No one tried to stop her from going on her pilgrimage!"

Mother cleared her throat. I knew what her answer was going to be. Sky had come to Kilika at five with a group of refugees from a Sin-destroyed village. She had spent her life in the small huts reserved for such people, helping out the nurses to earn her keep. There was no one to tell Sky not to go.

"Mom, Sky's my friend! I can't let her just go off!"

"Raika, you are not going. It's too dangerous, and-"

"Don't you care? How many more lives does Sin have to destroy for the need to outweigh the danger? I _know_ it's dangerous! I want to do something more to help than sit here all day!"

"_Raika_."

Whirling around, I stomped out the door. I jogged a few hundred feet along the wooden boards that served as streets in my town—Kilika was built almost entirely over the ocean-- to where Sky was sitting, dangling her feet in the water. As I approached, Sky looked up, brushing her blonde bangs out of her face, and smiled.

"How did it go?"

I scowled and sat down next to her. "They wouldn't let me! They said it was too dangerous, and I'm too young-"

"They just don't want you to get hurt," said Sky. She stared out across the ocean and sighed.

"A lot more people would get hurt if I didn't go than if-"

"Rai, calm down. They love you, is all." She shook her head. "This does complicate things. I've got to go help Jan make dinner now, I'll see you later." She stood up and walked off, leaving me alone. I got the uncomfortable impression that something rather important had been said, but I couldn't quite place it. The I realized, with a twinge of guilt-- Sky had no one to love her too much to let her go.

About a half an hour passed before I heard footsteps behind me. Without bothering to look up, I could tell it was Father.

"Raika, come with me. I want to show you something." I ignored him, trying to skip small pieces of wood. He sat down beside me in silence. Fifteen minutes passed before my curiosity got the better of me. Besides, watching wood sink isn't very entertaining.

"What… did you want to show me?" He got up and walked back to the house, and I followed. _Mom's probably off discussing her crazy daughter with the neighbors,_ I thought ruefully- there was no one home, and I knew my little sister wouldn't be back for a couple hours.

Father led me into my parents' bedroom. I followed cautiously- there was almost an unspoken rule in our house against my sister Tami and I going in there. Sitting down on the bed, I watched Father rummage in a trunk in the far corner.

"Here it is," said Father. Standing up, he held something out. I gasped.

"W-what-"

"It's a shuriken," her father answered, holding it up to the light. It had a central handle, with four sharp metal rods as long as my arm radiating out from it. It looked dangerous—and not just because it had sharp ends. It was a light silver color, and shone in the sunlight from the window.

"Where did you… get it?" Many people in the village had daggers or rods, to help fend off the smaller Sinspawn that occasionally attacked, but I had never seen a weapon like this before.

"I never told you, did I." I shook my head, even though it hadn't seemed like a question. "I was a guardian once." He cut me off before I could interrupt. "Summoner Mikel, twenty years ago."

"Mikel? But-"

"The pilgrimage… failed," said Father quietly. "Mikel was killed. Kilika was the best place I could think of to go after that. I came here and married your mother, you and your sister were born, and I guess I didn't want to tell you… that I failed."

I was still recovering from my initial shock. I loved him, but my father had never seemed the type to be very brave and go on adventures. And besides, didn't Father, just an hour ago, forbid me to become a guardian? But, no, I remembered. He had said I was too young. Doing some calculating, I figured he must have been nineteen on his pilgrimage. Done with that, I caught up to what he was saying.

"Why are you telling me now, then?"

"If you want to go, I can't hold you back," he said quietly. "Yevon knows I would have done anything to go. Sky's leaving tomorrow, you said?" 

"I didn't, but yes."

"Ask her to leave tonight." I finally noticed where he was going with this, and opened my mouth. Father cut me off. "I'll try to give you as many supplies as I can." He stood up and walked out of the room. "Rai." I looked up. He took a deep breath. "Come back. For Yevon's sake, come back."


	2. Summoner

---

Chapter 2

Summoner

---

Shouldering my small bag, I crept out my door. I tiptoed over the wooden walkways, careful not to let them creak. I tested every step first, just to make sure that there was, in fact, a walkway there, and I wasn't stepping out into the ocean. I wasn't used to walking around in pitch-blackness. After a few minutes, I made it to the edge of the woods, where I finally allowed myself to relax. Who knew who could be watching me sneak out of the village?

"How's it going?" whispered a voice from the shadows. I jumped, clutching the shuriken, and stared into the darkness. The voice laughed. "Don't worry, Rai, it's just me." Sky stood up from where she had been sitting on a rock. 

"Sky! Warn me next time, okay? You scared me!" Sky laughed again, softly, and picked up a spear that had been leaning against the rock. 

"Come on. If we hurry, we should be able to reach the temple by dawn," Sky said quietly. "There's probably fiends around; be ready."

"They should be sleeping… right?" I asked in a whisper. If they were, I didn't want to wake one up. I had never fought one before—I probably should have learned how, exactly, you fight before becoming a guardian.

"Maybe." We walked quickly, but cautiously, through the tropical forest. The only sounds were the _drip-drip of water always in those places, the wind in the trees, and the occasional rustle or growl as an animal was disturbed from its rest. I found myself imagining what kinds of animals these must be in a forest at night-- perhaps giant snakes, with venomous fangs just waiting to sink into you. Or large wolves, which would surround you and tear you to bits. Or- I shook my head impatiently. It was no good scaring myself. Not for the first time, I wondered if I should have told Mom where I was going- we would be on our way to Besaid before Mom would know. Sky had left a note on her bed, explaining that she didn't want a big fanfare upon her departure, so she and I were going to leave that night. When she defeated Sin, everyone could celebrate. I tried to turn my thoughts to other things—I don't like to worry—but I just ended up thinking of fiends with dangerous teeth and claws._

In no time at all- or far too long, from my outlook- we reached the tall flights of steps leading up to the temple. I groaned softly-- first strange sounds, now millions of steps? But Sky was already doggedly climbing, and I wasn't about to be left behind. 

When we reached the large platform at the top of the steps, Sky paused. "I wonder what the view from here would be like without all those trees in the way…" she said thoughtfully.

"Yeah… then again, the jungle's pretty," I said.

"Of course, when there are no fiends around." We both giggled softly for a moment before resuming our walk to the temple.

---

"Wow…" I said softly. I'd seen the temple plenty of times, but never at night. The darkness seemed to add an element of mystery to the statues around the edge; the light from the candles only made the shadows deeper. The intricate floor pattern was invisible in the dim light. I walked up to one of the candles and lifted its holder, meaning to light the way through the Cloister.

"Don't bother," said Sky. "It's light in there." I shrugged and placed the candle back- Sky had been in the cloister more times than my zero.

We stepped on the platform to enter the Cloister, and I was momentarily thrown off balance by the sudden descent. By the time I stood up, the platform was settling into the floor. Peering around, I followed Sky to the door of the Cloister and walked in.

Sky was right- it was light in there, although the light didn't seem to come from the small orange sphere nestled in the wall. It was dim, and more yellow than orange. I shrugged it off as one of the many mysteries of summoning, and picked up the sphere. It was slightly warm, and glowed brighter once it was in my hand. Walking over to the other door in the room, I cautiously put it in the slot by the door--

And yelped as the door burst into flames. Stumbling back, I rubbed my eyes to get rid of the light-blindness. Sky stepped forward confidently and removed the sphere from the slot. The flames died down to reveal an open passageway. As I frowned and followed Sky through, I realized something- the flames had been only bright, not hot.

The next room was full of fire, leaving only a ledge a few yards wide. Although the fire in the doorway had seemed to be only light, this fire was _hot_. Both of us shielded our faces from the flames as we searched for a sphere, and sighed in relief as the fire disappeared. 

We made quick work of the rest of the puzzle, and in no time, were in front of the door to the Chamber. I was glad Sky had made her way through Kilika's trials before—it made the entire puzzle a lot easier. Sky smiled at me and walked through the door. It closed behind her.

I sat down to wait. Within the half hour, I had traced with my finger all the inlaid designs in the woodwork I could reach. Within an hour, I had hummed all the tunes I knew, and made up a few of my own. In the next hour, I took down my multi-braided, blond-streaked brown ponytail, redid the braids, and put it back up again. By the time the third hour had rolled around, I was getting seriously worried. I knew it often took a long time for the Fayth to accept a new Summoner, but something could have happened to Sky! Only the strict taboos of the temple kept me from going to see what was wrong, and even then I had to concentrate very hard on the floor pattern to keep myself from jumping up and running into the Chamber.

At three and a half hours, Sky stumbled out of the doorway. I leaped up, and got to the stairs just in time to keep her from falling. Sky looked at me and smiled- a smile that was, nevertheless, tinged with an edge of sadness. As she said her next words, I felt an odd happiness mixed, nevertheless, with a chill of foreboding.

"I… I have Ifrit. I've become a Summoner…"


	3. Shattered Peace

And now, for your reading pleasure, Chapter Three! ^_^  It's a bit longer than the others. Thanks, reviewers! 

---

Chapter Three 

Shattered Peace

---

 We  walked a little quicker on our way back- it was around three in the morning, and we, for obvious reasons, wanted to be gone long before anyone woke up. As we tiptoed down the wooden walkways, Sky paused for a moment and stared back at the thatched group of huts both of us called home, almost as if she stared at it hard enough, it would stay with her forever. Finally she turned, and smiled at me.

"Let's go," she said quietly as we walked towards the boat.

As the boat set sail, I looked back on my hometown. The sun was just beginning to turn the horizon pink, and the next-door neighbor's dog was trotting along the wooden boards. Impatiently I blinked tears back from my eyes. Why should I be sad? I was going to see the world! A small voice in my head reminded me why I felt about to cry, but I brushed it off. I would worry about the end of our journey when it came.

Sky had, apparently, already made a friend. She was talking to a girl about my age, or maybe a year younger. As I looked over, Sky gestured for me to come. I did so, with one last glance over the ship's railing. 

"This is Sakura," Sky said. The girl in question waved happily, and I raised an eyebrow. _I'm right here, you know. No need to wave._

"Er… hello," I said.

"She wishes to travel with us, just until Luca," Sky said. Sakura nodded.

"I'm going that way anyway, and I don't really like the idea of traveling by myself," she said. "You're probably the safest people to travel with!"

I shrugged. I wasn't so sure about that. "Okay, then. Where are you from?"

"Besaid," Sakura replied. "I… got on the wrong ship when I left." Sky hid a giggle behind her hand.

"So instead of Luca, you found yourself bound for Kilika?" she asked.

"Uh-huh." I looked back at Kilika, only to see the wide expanse of the ocean.

"There!" Sakura pointed over the prow of the ship. Squinting, I could just make out a green strip of land. 

"How can you even _see_ that?" I asked.

"I dunno! I have good eyesight." I walked to the middle of the ship where Sky was sitting, leaning against the stairs to the bowels of the ship. She had her eyes closed, and was humming the Hymn of the Fayth quietly.

"We're almost there, Sky." She opened her eyes and stood up.

"Really?" I nodded. "Good. I can't say I care much for ships." I grinned and led the way to the prow.

The ship was making good time for only being powered by chocobos. Now, even someone without eagle eyesight could see the island. Sakura was grinning eagerly. "The ship ended up leaving in the night, and I didn't get a chance to say bye to everyone!" I shifted uncomfortably, but before I got to think about it again, the ship docked. "I did think the ship was leaving too early… wow, that was a pretty stupid move, huh?" I sighed. Chatter like this all the way to Luca could get annoying. Maybe I talked a lot sometimes, but at least when I talked I had a reason to.

We stepped off the ship, a bit wobbly after being on the ocean so long. Sakura almost collapsed in the sand, but picked herself up, grinning. "Sea legs." 

As we walked along the path that supposedly led to the village, Sakura told us about the island. "See, down there, that river? That's where the Aurochs practice! I watch sometime. I wish I could hold my breath that long! I can only stay under for a couple minutes. I can't practice much, the elders think it's not proper for a girl to play Blitzball." She wrinkled her nose. "I don't know why. Everyone else's fine with it. There's a couple girls on most teams. You know, a girl was the top scorer for the Psyches last year…" As I concentrated on drowning out her incessant chatter, I looked at the greenery. It reminded me of Kilika's jungle, but with more light coming through the trees.

When we emerged from the forest, Sakura led us to a small outcrop of he path. She pointed over the edge. "See, there it is! Sorry it's so… um… Unbuilt, shall we say? Sin attacked a couple of days ago."

The village did look rather destroyed. Pieces of boards and the like were strewn around, and the houses that were standing were tilted at odd angles. People were walking around, pushing wheelbarrows full of debris and being tailed by little children. 

"So far inland?" Sky wondered aloud.

"Yeah… a tidal wave came up the river. I guess it must have swum by, or something. Come on!" Sakura ran down a path on the cliff face, beckoning the us to follow her.

As we neared the village, I realized that the village didn't look as demolished as it had from the cliff top. The houses were leaning, but they didn't seem to be in any danger of falling over. The people pushing wheelbarrows seemed cheerful, and there was even a makeshift healer's tent. A young man was sitting in it, concentrating on filling up bottles with different-colored liquids. I saw what looked like a long table set up behind the temple. When we walked into the village, a little girl detached herself from a woman pushing a wheelbarrow and ran over, yelling Sakura's name. Sakura caught the girl and hugged her. "Sasa! You came back!"

"Hey, you shouldn't have worried. I'm fine!" Sakura picked the girl up. "My sis, Liya." The girl in question wriggled out of Sakura's grip and ran towards the healer's tent. 

"Nyk! Nyk! Sasa's back!" The healer, in the middle of filling up a bottle with some sort of blue liquid, put the bottle down, stood up quickly, and jogged over.

"Sakura! Jeez! Do you know how idiotic that was?" he half yelled. "Anything could have happened! Why did you just go off like that!?"

Sakura grinned and hugged him. "Missed you too, bro. I left a note." 

"So! Fat lot of good that did!"

Sakura sighed. "My brother, Nyk. Nyk, Lady Sky and her guardian, Rai." Nyk flushed scarlet and performed the Yevon prayer gesture.

"Ah… my lady summoner…"

Sky smiled ruefully. "You don't have to call me that. I don't think I deserve that title yet."

"Ah…" Nyk bowed again. "Please, come over to the tent." The three girls followed him back to the healer's. "I… I'm sorry for any inconvenience Sakura may have caused, and I thank you for accompanying her back."

"Bro!"

"We were coming this way anyway," Sky said as she sat down on a stool. "She wasn't any trouble. Although, I would like to know why she was bound for Luca."

"Our grandpa lives there," Sakura interjected. "I figured it would be easier for me to go and stay with him. Everyone's busy with rebuilding, and I can't really help. I thought it would worry people if I told them I was leaving; they would have fussed and all."

"We worried more that you- oh, never mind. It's done now. Lady Sum- er, Lady Sky, Lady Rai, would you like something to eat? Drink?" Sky accepted, and Nyk trotted off to get some food. Liya got off the chair that she had been quietly sitting in and followed him.

"The temple's over there?" I pointed to a large building to the north.

"Yeah. It's weird, the way it wasn't even touched by the wave," Sakura replied. "It's funny, watching my bro try to act formal." We both blinked at the sudden change of subject.

"Oh? Why?" I asked.

"Cause he's usually…not. No one really talks formal around here." Her way of speaking proved that, I thought. It was amazing the way one language could change so much from place to place.

She looked at the temple again, to see Nyk carrying a tray and some bowls. Liya was following with a handful of spoons.

"Sorry it's not much," Nyk said as he placed the tray on the table. On it were four bowls of stew, still steaming from the kettle. "We've been sharing a cook fire since the attack- it's easier."

"Rebuilding is probably more important than gourmet cooking, yes," said Sky with a smile. "Stew is fine." Liya remembered she was holding the spoons, and placed them next to the tray. She then ran off, presumably to resume following a wheelbarrow pusher.

We managed to eat politely, while still eating as fast as possible. Neither of us had eaten since dinner the night before, and it was nearly midday. The two siblings tucked in just as avidly, if slower. Nyk finished first, and resumed bottling potions while the rest of us finished up.

"I'm sorry we can't offer you more hospitality, Lady Sky, but it is important to produce potions," Nyk said when the others put their spoons down. "This is quicker than healing each person individually."

"I understand," Sky replied. "In fact, I think we'll go to the temple now, and rest up after." I was about to protest- I was _tired_- but I realized Sky wanted to impose on these people as little as possible.

"Very well, then," Nyk replied. He led us towards the temple, as Sakura started to clean up the plates. She waved cheerfully as she took them back to a large pot next to one of the houses. 

The temple was, in a way, exactly like Kilika's- yet completely different. The statues were there, but instead of larger-than-life painted carvings, they were actual statues. The whole temple was brighter- but that may have been because it was daytime. Sky and I walked up the steps to the Cloister of Trials as Nyk bowed and walked outside.

"They were nice," I commented. 

Sky smiled. "We'll be able to expect something like that wherever we go. Summoners are apparently famous- who knew?" I laughed. "But I agree. They probably would have done something like that even if I wasn't a summoner."

"Without all the formalities, of course." We chuckled as we walked into the maze-like chamber. 

We found ourselves in a small room. Sky walked over to the north wall, where a glowing glyph was. She touched it, and the east wall disappeared. I shivered- this place was much too odd for my liking- and we descended the steps.

I picked up a sphere from its place in a niche on the wall. Unlike Kilika's spheres, this one was light blue. Where Kilika's were warm, holding this sphere was like holding a breeze. A blue breeze encased in glass, but nevertheless, a breeze.

"Up here!" Sky called. I trotted up to see her gesturing at a door. Looking closer, I saw that instead of handles, there was a small slot. I placed the sphere in it to open the door. Sky took it out when we walked through.

We found ourselves in a hallway. After a few minutes of trotting back and forth, we managed to open up a small hole in one wall. Sky knelt down and picked up a staff.

"Huh? Why's that here?" There hadn't been anything like that in Kilika—at least, not that I had noticed.

Sky shrugged and smiled. "Who knows? Probably another reward for solving the puzzle." She passed her hand over the staff, and it faded away. I blinked, then shook my head and placed a sphere in the small pedestal. Both of us together could just push it to the end of the room. A platform appeared there; we stood on it and were brought down to a small room. Sky saluted me ironically and climbed the set of stairs leading into the chamber.

Fighting the urge to sleep, I counted the floor tiles. I was up to fourty-two before sleep overtook me.

I sat up quickly and cursed silently. What was I doing, falling asleep like this? I was a guardian! Without being able to see sun-shadows, I didn't even know how long it had been. Angrily, I resumed my floor tile counting. Three more hours passed, by my reckoning, before Sky stumbled out of the chamber. I stood up quickly, and helped her sit down on the bottom stair. 

"Valefor," Sky gasped out. "The aeon's name…Valefor." She pulled a ribbon out of her pocket and tied her hair back, then produced a handkerchief from the same pocket and wiped the sweat off of her face.

We heard someone running in the hallway downstairs. Mystified, I looked at the platform. A moment later, it descended into the chamber.

"Sakura!" I said shakily. "Ah…wha.."

Ignoring both of our shocked looks—well, I was shocked; Sky was too tired to be shocked— she kneeled down and gasped, "Sin…Sinspawn… in the village!"


	4. Fatigue

Sorry about the slightly late update. I'll write one page one day, a sentence the next...In this chapter, I tried experimenting with first person. I like writing in first better than third. However, if my reviewers (hint, hint) like third better, or think it works better, I'll switch back. =)  
  
By the way, if anyone's interested, Raika means fire started by lightning and Sakura means cherry blossom, both in Japanese.  
  
--- Chapter Four Fatigue ---  
  
We raced out of the Chamber as fast as we could, with Sky still tired. "Sakura." I gasped out.  
  
"I know! I'm not supposed-" a pause for breath-" to come in! But this was important!" Another pause as we rocketed up the stairs. "Who knew when you'd be out! Most people have-" we found ourselves outside.  
  
I was temporarily blinded by the sun, after being in the dim light of the Chamber so long. I turned my attention to the ground, where an extremely ugly turtle-like creature seemed to be planted. Running around the village, racing in and out of homes, and generally making a disaster of everything, were several scores of fiends. The villagers were fending them off with knives and sticks, but couldn't do anything for the roaring abomination in the center of the village.  
  
".have weapons," Sakura continued. "But we can't do anything-"  
  
Sky nodded and stood straighter. "...all right," she said slowly. "Rai, help get the fiends away from the villagers. Get them over here." Sakura pulled out a bow and motioned that she would help. Sky nodded.  
  
We ran over to a small knot of children being harried by a Dingo and a Condor. Sakura used up two arrows in taking down the Condor- she was definitely skilled with her weapon. Grimacing, I took out my shuriken and slashed the Dingo. It turned around at me, growling, and I hit it again. It snarled and ran off. That could have gone better, I thought. Ah, well, I'd never had a chance to practice.  
  
"Get over to Sky," I said to them, and pointed. With some coaxing from Sakura, they obeyed. I grimaced again- dealing with kids isn't my strong point.  
  
We dealt with a few more groups before we encountered a different sort of fiend. It looked almost like the jam I like to spread on sandwiches, and was casting magic on a harried woman. Sakura shot it, but it didn't seem to be harmed.  
  
Suddenly, out of the blue, a bolt of lightning lanced down from the sky to strike the creature. It screeched and melted into the ground, defeated. A handful of pyreflies drifted up. A tired-looking Nyk ran over, a rod of dark wood in his hand. "I can't do any more of that," he said, and rubbed his face. "Lady Sky'd better do what she's gonna quick." I noticed, interested, that he didn't talk formally now- I wasn't surprised, really. I wouldn't want to spare the energy.  
  
I looked around. Some fiends were still running around, but all of the villagers were clustered near the temple. Sky was apparently telling them to get in- as the last one did, she looked at us. I raised the shuriken above my head to tell her to get started, and she nodded. Sakura, Nyk, and I ran to get behind the shelter of a house that was still standing.  
  
Sky stood still, her bladed staff- now where did she get that from? - vertically held in her hand. As we watched, signs seemed to be etched by an invisible hand in the dirt around her. They glowed purple briefly, and in one fluid movement, Sky stepped back with one leg and held her staff above her head. "She's summoning..." Sakura said in a whisper. She was right. What seemed to be a large red and tan cannonball rocketed down from the sky. It flared its wings- it was a giant bird, apparently her new summon, Valefor- and landed next to her. Sky nodded and pointed.  
  
The bird leaped into the air. It dove again and again, striking each fiend. One or two strikes turned each one into a rainbow of pyreflies. The Aeon- Valefor, I reminded myself- then rose into the air in front of the turtle- Sinspawn. It seemed to be filled with power, like one of the old Gods of the tales told by the Kilikan storytellers. But wasn't it a god, really, in its own right? Whether it was or not didn't matter at the moment. The Sinspawn rose up onto what seemed to be legs and fired a jet of water at Valefor. The Aeon dodged it easily, and then seemed to set up for an attack.  
  
It did a flip in the air, and seemed to anchor itself. Bright beams of light shot out from its beak to hover as a giant sphere of light in the air. I had to shield my eyes as the beams streaked down to hit the Sinspawn. It screamed, a sound that was eerily human, and dissolved into the biggest mass of pyreflies I had ever seen.  
  
There was an eerie silence for a moment. Then Valefor leaped back up into the air, and Sky collapsed.  
  
I jumped up- I hadn't realized I'd been kneeling- and raced over. The villagers streamed out of the temple, but Nyk kept them back by waving his rod and threatening to fry them. Sakura knelt down beside me.  
  
"What's wrong with her?"  
  
"Fatigue, I think. She hasn't slept for a day, and summoning and the two temples took a lot out of her." Nyk crouched down.  
  
"Yeah," he said. "That's probably it. Sasa, get a stretcher from behind the temple?"  
  
Sakura scowled. "Sakura!" she yelled as she trotted off. By the time she came back, hauling two long poles with cloth strapped between them, we had managed to get Sky into a slightly more comfortable position. She stirred a bit as we lifted her onto the stretcher, but remained out cold.  
  
Nyk picked up one end, and a man came forward from the milling crowd of villagers to pick up the other. Sakura and I trailed the stretcher to the undisturbed healer's tent. The two men put down the stretcher, then picked up Sky and placed her on the bed. I frowned.  
  
"Aren't there potions you use for this?"  
  
"No." Nyk shook his head. "That's only for people who've been knocked out, by a monster or something. All we can do for a fatigued person is let them rest." He frowned. "Hammur, get that basket over there?" The man did so. Nyk stood up and opened a trunk that was on the far side of the tent. He looked up.  
  
"Sakura, stay with Sky. Call me if she wakes up, 'kay? Raika, come with me. A bunch of villagers got hurt before we drove off the fiends." I put my hands on my hips and frowned.  
  
"I want to stay with Sky."  
  
Nyk sighed. "She'll be fine, and Sakura's a disaster when she tries to help."  
  
"Am not!"  
  
"Are too. I can't go by myself; they'd swamp me with wanting to know how the Lady Summoner was doing. If they see a guardian, they'll know she's okay."  
  
I sighed. He was right, and there wasn't anything seriously wrong with Sky. I nodded, and followed him out of the tent.  
  
We were besieged almost as soon as we set foot outside. The villagers clamored to know what was wrong, if the summoner was all right, if they could help. As Nyk was quieting them down, telling them she was perfectly fine, I realized something.  
  
None of them knew Sky. All they knew was a face labeled "Summoner". They weren't concerned about her as a person, they were concerned about her as, I suppose, a savior. I couldn't blame them, really, but something just struck me as wrong.  
  
Summoners give their lives for the people, everyone knows that. But it seems that the people could be a bit more grateful. Value the person, not the deed, you know? But maybe... maybe that's just how people are. Would I think any different, if I didn't know Sky?  
  
"Raaaaaaai!" Sakura's shout jolted me from my thoughts. I struggled out of the crowd, nearly tripping several times before the villagers cleared the way for me. "She's awa-ake!" Sakura stopped in front of me and grinned.  
  
"Already? In, what, five minutes?"  
  
"Mmm. guess she's stronger, cause of the Aeons in her or something."  
  
I nodded- it wasn't worth puzzling over- and walked back to the tent. Opening the tent flap, I saw Sky sitting up on the cot, sipping a cup of water. She looked up at me as I entered.  
  
"That was rather exciting," she said, grinning, "wasn't it?"  
  
I sat down on a chair placed next to the cot. "Heh...guess so. You okay?"  
  
"I'm fine. A bit tired, but some food will do me good." Looking away, I saw Sakura shifting from foot to foot. I raised an eyebrow quizzically.  
  
"Ah.it's nothing. Really," she added as Sky looked up.  
  
"I should be getting up," Sky said, swinging her legs over the edge of the cot. I firmly pushed her back into lying down. "Rai, I'm fine."  
  
"Are you kidding? You just fainted! You need rest and food. I'll go ask Nyk where to find some..." I looked outside, at the shadows cast by the damaged huts. "....breakfast. You lie down"  
  
Sky laughed softly as I walked out the door, but remained in bed. What did she expect me to do, after her fainting like that? She was like that, worrying much too little about herself, to the point you had to sit her firmly down and make her rest.  
  
Breakfast?  
  
Peering back into the tent, I asked Sky, "How long were we in there?"  
  
"Oh.sixteen hours? I dunno. I can't remember the last summoner, so I figured that it must take a while. Does it?"  
  
I shook my head slowly. "Not. usually. It took three hours before."  
  
"Don't worry- if something really wrong happened, you'd know," interjected Sky. "The Hymn would stop. Remember, how we heard it all through the temple? Ifrit said-"  
  
"He can talk?!"  
  
"He would have to, to teach me, wouldn't he? He said that something else would happen... Something else with eh temple. He wasn't too clear."  
  
I shrugged in acceptance- it was best to expect the unexpected about the temples- and trotted back outside.  
  
  
  
"Nyk?" I called. The group of villagers seemed to have moved from the temple to the central fire pit, so I headed there. I found Nyk in the center of them, handing out potions or bandages, depending on how badly hurt the person was. "Nyk?" He looked up, after wrapping a young man's arm in a sling. "Sky woke up, and she needs something to eat. Have anything?"  
  
"mmm," he said, digging in his basket for a potion. "Behind the temple, there's some tables. Food's there. Get her some bread, cheese- nothing too heavy. Yes, I know it tastes bad, you need to drink it," he directed at a little girl who refused to drink a potion. "Some of the villagers should be back there, too. Get Liya?" I nodded and walked towards the temple. Liya- his sister, I remembered.  
  
Even with most of the houses destroyed, Besaid was a pretty village. A stream trickled to my left, and green grass grew around where the houses should have been. Here and there would be a bright tropical flower- some I recognized from Kilika, others were completely different. As I approached the temple, I saw that the tables were made of large slabs of thin stone, probably dragged up from the riverbed.  
  
Laid out on the table were stacks of plates, bowls, and spoons. There were several loaves of bread and rounds of cheese, as well as what looked like sausage. Pitchers of milk and water were dispersed along the table, and there were a couple large bowls of some sort of salad. Next to the table was a large, steaming kettle- probably where they cooked the stew we had eaten earlier. There were several women milling about cooking, some leading children.  
  
As I made a cheese sandwich for Sky, my stomach rumbled. I realized I had not eaten for- sixteen hours, Sakura said?- and prepared a second sandwich for myself. As an afterthought, I made one for Sakura, too.  
  
While I was trying, and failing, to balance three plates and three cups of milk in my arms, one of the cooks watched me. She then came over.  
  
"Need a tray?" she asked, smiling. I nodded.  
  
"Good idea."  
  
"Hold on a moment, please." She walked over to the kettle, presumably to get a tray. I glanced around for Liya as I put the plates back on the table. About half the children were boys, so I could rule them out. That girl? No, I don't think I've seen her before. Hmm.over there? Looking to my left, I saw a girl who looked slightly familiar, leaning against a tree. She had the same red-brown hair as her siblings, but hers was longer and not pulled back like Sakura's. I decided to walk over and ask.  
  
"Ah.excuse me?" The girl looked up from where she was drawing squiggles in the dirt. "Are you Liya?"  
  
She nodded shyly. I crouched down beside her. "I'm Rai, Summoner Sky's guardian. Remember, we came with Sakura?" She looked up and nodded solemnly. "Your brother wants you. C'mon, I'll show you where he is." Liya finished drawing a spiral in the dirt and stood up. She trailed me to the tables, where I saw that my plates and cups had been placed neatly on a wooden tray. I waved my thanks to the woman, who was monitoring the kettle, and Liya and I walked off.  
  
Liya seemed pretty shy- either that, or just quiet. All the little kids in Kilika were continuously talking and running around, but I hadn't heard Liya utter a word since her exuberant welcome of Sakura. Ah, well. I shouldn't worry about it too much- some people were just quiet.  
  
We approached the circle of villagers, now dwindled to five people. "You're brother's over there," I said, and pointed. Liya smiled up at me and trotted over, while I returned to the tent. Lifting the doorway flap, I saw that Sky had fallen back asleep- and so had Sakura. They both woke up as I walked in the door.  
  
"Ooh! Food!" Sakura jumped up out of the chair she had been sitting in and set up a small folding table that had been leaning against the tent wall. "Thanks, Rai."  
  
I set the plates on the table, which Sakura had set up where Sky could reach. Sky sat up in bed and picked up her sandwich. "I think not eating for sixteen hours had something to do with my fainting, also."  
  
I frowned as I picked up my glass of milk. Taking a sip, I realized I was ravenously hungry. Apparently the other two girls were too, because all three sandwiches were gone within five minutes.  
  
Setting down my cup with a contented sigh, I remembered the reason I had been frowning. Several reasons, actually. Before I could get any of them from my head to my mouth, Sakura blurted out, "Sky, what's it like to summon?"  
  
Immediately after, she turned bright red. "Sorry...didn't mean to... I don't know if it's taboo to ask."  
  
Sky shook her head. "It's okay. I don't mind." She paused. "Do you know how, when you're underwater too long, your ears get that odd roaring feeling?" Sakura nodded. "That happens...only they don't hurt. There's a feeling of... something, some force, being drawn out of your body..." she frowned thoughtfully and rubbed her temples.  
  
"You want something more to eat?" I asked, concerned.  
  
"No... I'm all right. It's just hard to remember, that's all. I think I was already half-fainting when I summoned. I'm still not sure how it all happened..."  
  
"T-that's okay, Sky," Sakura stammered. "I probably shouldn't have asked in the first place. There's a ship to Luca tomorrow morning, are you going to take that one? The next one after that is in a week."  
  
"Yes, probably," said Sky, seeming not to notice the deft change in subject. I looked at her meaningfully, and she laughed. "Don't worry, Rai. I'll sleep all day and eat a huge dinner! Why, Sakura?"  
  
Before she could answer, Nyk entered the tent. "Sakura?" he asked, before seeing her. "There you are. C'mon, we're going to Luca on the next ship!"  
  
"..."  
  
"Kirel's pretty good at healing now, so I don't have to stay. Grandpa'll let us live with him, and it was a pretty good idea to go there in the first place." Sakura stood up and walked over to him, peering at his head. "What?" he asked, faintly annoyed.  
  
"Nothin'. Just wanted to see if it left a mark when you hit your head." Nyk brought his hand to his forehead as I giggled behind my hand.  
  
"Sakura! I've been thinking about this a while, even before you left. Liya seemed pretty happy when I told her. Lady Summoner, do you need healing?" he said, turning to Sky. I blinked at the quick change in subject and formality.  
  
"No, I'm fine. I just need a bit more rest. In fact, we'll be on the same ship, then."  
  
"See, Sakura! It's a good idea," Nyk said, grinning.  
  
"Huh. Just wouldn't expect you to come up with it, is all!"  
  
"C'mon back to the tent, then. We've gotta pack," Nyk said as an answer. Sakura shook her head and followed him.  
  
  
  
  
  
The mist was still thick near the ground when Sky and I woke. As we didn't really have much with us, our walk to the beach was quick. The forest looked transformed in the mist, like something out of a fairy story. For all we were on a tropical island, I had to rub my arms to keep away the chill as we waited on the docks.  
  
Ten minutes after we arrived, we heard a small commotion on the beach. The commotion moved onto the boards of the docks, and three familiar people emerged from the mist. Nyk had a large basket that carried all sorts of potions, as well as several books. Sakura was wheeling a small suitcase, and Liya was carrying a stuffed moogle.  
  
"He-ey!" Sakura called. "We're early!" She plunked down next to us. Nyk sat next to her, and Liya crawled up on his lap. She yawned and hugged her cat- like doll closer.  
  
Three minutes passed, with only Sakura's occasional chatter breaking through the silence. Apparently, she was the only morning person among us. However, soon even she resigned to tossing chunks of wood into the water.  
  
"I think I-" Sky yawned- "hear it." Sure enough, as we all stood up, we saw a light blue ship approaching over the water.  
  
"Wo-ow!" Sakura said. "I didn't get to see the other ship, it was too dark! This is neat!" She scampered on board, and the rest of us followed a bit slower.  
  
"Bye, Besa-aid!" Sakura called. "Everybody say bye!" She grinned cheerfully. Nyk groaned and gently smacked the back of her head, which didn't seem to alter her mood at all.  
  
I think I was the only one who heard Liya say softly, "Bye, 'Said." 


	5. Sudden Squall

Sorry about the late update. I just haven't had much inspiration lately.-_- Usually, you can expect updates about every two weeks.  
  
Fun Fact of the Day: I got the title from a song by Sting, Fields of Gold. Good song. ^_^ The song put the Calm Lands in my head...and the entire story kind of grew from there. O-o  
  
Disclaimer: I own the characters and the plot, Square owns the setting and most of the concepts.  
  
Chapter 5: Sudden Squall  
"...and in roughly four hours, we will be stopping at Kilika to pick up passengers. From there it is six hours to Luca, where we will disembark at dock Three. We hope you will enjoy your voyage, and travel with ChocoBoat ferries again!" The captain of the S. S. Tsunami stepped back into the cabin in the center of the ship.  
  
"ChocoBoat?" Sky asked, amused.  
  
"Yeah." Nyk shrugged. "Down below the cabins, chocobos run around on giant wheels. That's what powers the paddles. Guess they thought it was a funny pun." He yawned and stood up from his seat, leaning against the side of the boat. "I'm beat. We were up most of the night packing. Think I'm gonna go take a nap in the cabin." He meandered down the steps to the cabins, and Liya followed. Sakura grinned.  
  
"Not me! I'm full of energy!" To prove that, she managed to do a cartwheel and a half before tripping over a wooden box.. Sky giggled, and I sighed. I don't think it's possible for her to get tired, I thought. She'll be eighty- three and doing flips. I laughed softly at this mental image as Sakura sat up and rubbed her head.  
  
"Hopefully the trip will be uneventful...the sea is an odd thing, isn't it?" I looked at Sky, who was leaning on the ship railing and staring at the horizon. "It can change from gentle to terrifying in half a minute..."  
  
"Yeah, I guess so. It's pretty now, though, isn't it?"  
  
Sky sighed and looked at me. Her face twisted into a wry expression. "I just wish I didn't get seasick so easily..." she then laughed. "But you're right, it is pretty now."  
  
I stood up and stretched. "Ten hours to Luca, right?"  
  
"Yes, but with a stop at Kilika...I don't think I want to disembark there."  
  
"You're right..." I don't want to take the chance that I might chicken out and go running home, I thought to myself. But that would have been the wrong thing to say at the time. If I was Sky, I would sure as heck be nervous about what I was going to do.  
  
Two hours passed. Nyk and Liya awoke from their naps and came upstairs. We passed the time by cloud-watching-That cloud looks like a flower, or That one is obviously a bird, or I think that one is a trunkless Shoopuf with a house on its back .  
"Why would a Shoopuf have a house on its back?" Nyk asked, and stretched lazily.  
  
"Dunno. That's what it looks like." Sakura sat up and squinted against the sun. "Hey, look over there!" She stood up and pointed over the left side of the ship. "What the heck...?" Following her finger with my eyes, I saw a dark splotch on the horizon.  
  
"'Ilika?" Liya asked. She seemed to have gotten over her earlier shyness. Sky shook her head slowly.  
  
"Too small... and we shouldn't be there for another couple of..." Sky stood up quickly. The blob was quickly approaching, and Sky seemed to know what it was. "Sin!"  
  
I swallowed what I was about to say as my breath caught in my throat. Sin?! It couldn't be! But as it approached, even I could make out a large fin sticking up out of the water.  
  
"Get below!" Sky yelled over the rising wind. I could hear shouts coming from the crew- I guess they noticed it, I thought as I ran towards Sky. "Rai, you can't do anything! If I summon, I can drive it off towards the west!" She held out her staff, which had been leaning against the side of the ship, and twirled it. As a light shone briefly around her, I recognized the Protect spell. "I'll come below if it gets too close! Go, Rai!" Unwillingly, my feet took me towards the stairs leading to the bowels of the ship. I stopped on the third stair, leaning around the wall to watch Sky. Sakura came up behind me, grabbed my wrist, and led me down the stairs.  
  
"You'll get hurt if you stand out there," she said, sitting down and leaning against the wall. I hesitated, then nodded and sat down beside her.  
  
"It's just...I'm a guardian!" I exploded, standing back up. "I should be out there protecting her, not sitting on my behind in here!"  
  
"How are you gonna protect her?" Sakura asked, her eyes following me pacing back and forth. "Sin's at least a mile away. Her summon'll protect her, and there's nothing you can do to help."  
  
I continued pacing for another minute, then sighed in defeat. I leaned against the wall next to her and crossed my arms. We waited in silence- the door to this room had shut behind me when I came in.  
  
"I've been thinking about asking Sky to be a guardian," Sakura said after a long while. I kept staring at the wall across from me. "I mean," she continued, a little faster, "My grandpa and Nyk can take care of Liya, so there's nothing for me to do there. You guys both seem nice, and...I dunno."  
  
"What?" I asked, curious now.  
  
"I mean, I've never really had any real friends. Nyk and Liya, I love 'em, but they're my family. Besaid's pretty small, and there weren't any other girls my age. I was always tagging along with the older kids." Sakura shrugged. "I like you guys."  
  
I smiled. "It's fine with me, but it's Sky's decision."  
  
"Yeah, I know."  
  
I paused. "What about...your parents?"  
  
"Oh..."  
  
"Ah, never mind," I said hastily. "I mean-"  
  
"Naw, it's okay. Let's see.I was...twelve? Yeah. It'd been about eight years, I guess, since Sin was defeated. We didn't think it'd be back for...oh, two years, at least. That's why everyone in the village was out on the beach, you can't do that when you might get attacked. We had a bonfire going, and a nice little party. It was just me, mum, and dad-Nyk had a cold and was back in the village with Liya. She was only two, I think." Sakura looked up at the ceiling and squinted. "Yeah, two. We saw a shape over the water...it was dark out, and we thought it was a ship, so we didn't pay any attention. Only, it wasn't."  
  
"Sin?" I asked quietly.  
  
"Yeah. I was lucky, I guess. I made it back to the trees before it really hit shore. Only Dad was a Crusader, so he stayed. Dunno why...he didn't have any weapons. Mum got trampled by everyone running to the village, and Sin...he caught her, dad, half the village."  
  
"Geez...um-"  
  
Sakura made a face. "Don't say you're sorry. It's annoying. I guess that's another reason I want to be a Guardian, then. I think I'm gonna go check on- "  
  
She was cut off by a loud fingernails-on-a-blackboard screech, one that seemed to come from all around us. We clapped our hands over our ears, but there was only one. Nyk poked his head out of a door down the hall as we approached the stairs. After that screech, the silence was deafening.  
  
Suddenly we were thrown off our feet as the ship lurched. The breath flew out of my lungs as the next lurch tossed me into the wall. Down the hall, I heard Liya begin to cry. Nyk, who had been tossed to our end of the boat by the lurches, picked himself up and dashed down the hall. He stumbled once as a less powerful force struck the boat.  
  
I don't know how, but between lurches I managed to make it to the door of the deck. I pulled it open, struggling against a force on the other side. A freezing blast of air hit me and nearly tossed me down the stairs. Gritting my teeth, I shoved against it and forced my way out on deck .  
  
Lashing rain stung my face as I stared upwards. The blue sky had transformed into a roiling beast of gray and black, white fire lancing over it. Sky stood in the bow of the ship, grasping the short pole that stood there. A mighty force- a wave, I now realized- shook her grip free and caused me to slam to the floor. "Sky!!" I hollered, knowing she couldn't hear me. But something must have told her I was there, for she turned her ashy face towards me. She mouthed something, then launched herself across the deck.. Wind whipping her soaked dress behind her, she was tossed back and forth by the occasional wave hitting the ship.  
  
I grabbed her as she was about to fall past me, yanked open the door- much easier now that the wind was on our side- and we tumbled through.  
  
"What..." I gasped out as we made our way down the hall.  
  
"A storm...came in Sin's wake," Sky replied. "The shriek... Valefor got hit, by, by something...Sin went back the way it came..." She seemed extremely disoriented, and collapsed on the bed in the small room that I helped her in to.  
  
Nyk looked up from rubbing an ointment on Liya's forehead-I saw a nasty cut when I looked closer. "She fell when the ship lurched," Nyk explained. "Sakura?"  
  
Sakura went to Sky, a bottle of some sort of potion in her hand. "She's out cold," she commented.  
  
I sat down, leaning against the foot of the bed. "I wonder why...last time she summoned, she fainted. I could see why then-but it doesn't make much sense now."  
  
"She went up against Sin, didn't she? And she's a new Summoner. It must have took an awful lot of strength to keep the Aeon alive."  
  
"Mmm. Guess so."  
  
There we sat, in the musty, small room under the ship, to wait out the storm. 


	6. Clouds and Stars

Yes, yes, late again. Shoot me. No, no, not literally! Aah! I've been a bit busy with other things, like a stupid project I should have been doing weeks ago. _ Sorry. The chapter was supposed to be longer, but I didn't want to have to make you wait any longer.  
  
Fun Fact #2: you remember how I said this story was named after a line in a song? I was listening to the song when I realized the CD it was on is called Ten Summoners Tales. I think the universe is toying with me.  
  
Chapter Six  
  
Clouds and Stars  
The storm raged all through that day and into the night-either we weren't moving at all, which was pretty unlikely, or the storm was moving with us. None of us slept much that night-every time we closed our eyes, a wave would jar the boat and wake us up. It was pretty quiet; I think we were the only passengers, and the crew stayed in their cabin.  
I opened my eyes after a brief fit of sleep to see a brighter light shining through the door. What is that? I wondered. Torches couldn't be used in a boat, for obvious reasons, so shipbuilders had made a tenuous peace with the Al Bhed for electric lighting. I'd always wished to see an Al Bhed in person-Mom said it was easy to tell they were heathens, the bottom level of humanity, and I'd like to see how you could tell. Think about the lights, Rai, I told myself sternly. Even electric light wasn't this bright-it must have been morning, and the storm had passed!  
  
I stood up and shook Sky's shoulder (she had woken up sometime after midnight to fall into real sleep). She sat up, looked at the door, and nodded to me. Standing up, she walked out of the room, and I followed.  
  
Outside, I had to shade my eyes against the brightness of the sunlight. Of course, even the water seemed to shine after my eyes were so adjusted to darkness. The storm was definitely past.  
  
Sky walked over to a crew member checking over a large sail for damages. The man stood up and bowed, then shook his head and shrugged apologetically. Sky bowed in thanks and returned to the cabin door.  
  
"He says he has no idea where we are," she said, a tad disgruntled. "The crew is busy with fixing whatever the storm broke, and we must have been blown a long ways. Oh, well, the captain will probably come to a decision about where to go soon."  
  
I nodded. "Let's go wake up-"  
  
As I was talking, Sakura dashed up the stairs. "The storm's gone! And it's morning!" Both of us laughed as Sakura grinned. "They'll be up in a minute," she said, jerking her head towards our cabin. "Nyk's not a morning person."  
  
We walked over to the bow of the ship. I shaded my eyes and peered over, but saw nothing but the ocean. I hoped we hadn't been blown too far off course.  
  
"Wonder where we are?" Sakura mused.  
  
"The captain will tell us soon," Sky said firmly. "There's no point in worrying, we are where we are."  
We ate breakfast an hour later, downstairs in a large room with most of the crew. Rolls and scrambled chocobo eggs-which we had to coax Liya to eat (she thought chocobos were cute)-might not seem like much, but it was a feast compared to what we'd eaten yesterday. One by one we laid down our forks, and when the last men were just finishing up, the captain stood from his place at the head of the table.  
  
"Good morning, everyone. As you all know, yesterday was a rough day and we were blown pretty far off course. However-" he held out a map of Spira- "Wherever we are, and we are most likely somewhere around-" he circled with his finger the ocean around Kilika, Luca, and the mess of small islands to the east of them-"here, if we go north and slightly east, we will hit land within a day." Everyone applauded, probably glad we weren't up north by Djose.  
  
We dispersed, and our small party went to the deck above the main one. "Well, at least we aren't too far away from land," Nyk commented.  
  
Sakura laid on her back and stared at the sky. "It's nice to be outside again."  
  
"Mm-hmm," I commented. The heat was making me drowsy...  
  
"I swear!" I woke up to the sound of Sakura's indignant voice.  
  
"How can you see the exact same cloud again?"  
  
"I dunno. But, see, there's the house...and its tail is that long piece."  
  
"It's possible." Sky joined in with Sakura and Nyk's friendly bickering. "I mean, a shoopuf with a house on its back is a shapeless blob...there are a lot of clouds that look like shapeless blobs."  
  
I sat up and laughed. Sakura sighed in defeat. "Three against one, that's not fair!"  
  
Liya came over and patted her shoulder. "Don' worry, Sasa. I see it. That one, up there?" She pointed.  
  
Sakura buried her face in her hands. "That's the legless chocobo!" Everyone burst into laughter, even her.  
  
"Rai, you're awake," Sky commented. "You were asleep for three hours."  
  
"Really?" I said, yawning.  
  
"Mm-hmm."  
  
"Look!" Liya pointed to the north. For a moment I thought she had seen Sin, but no. This blot was dark green and spread across the horizon.  
  
"Land!" Sakura cried, jumping up. "Woo-hoo!"  
  
We disembarked right there, despite the sailors saying they would be glad to take us all the way to Luca. However, we were all tired of ships, and politely refused. The captain gave us his map, pointing out where we were.  
  
"See here, " he said, pointing to the map, "You're about three days from Luca. Now-" he took out a pen-"There's a pass through the mountains here, makes them easier to cross. There's some nasty fiends here-" he circled a forest-"So you might want to skirt that." Sky bowed and thanked him. "No trouble. Our ship'd be sunk without you driving Sin back. 'Sides, we've got extra maps."  
  
The ship set sail, and we set off along the coast. After a few minutes of debate, we decided to travel inland-there were no fiends on the beach, but the sand was hard to walk in. We hadn't been moving for ten minutes when we encountered our first group of fiends.  
  
The group was small, just a rock-like creature and something that looked like a small flame. Nyk stayed behind us with Liya, to keep her from getting hurt, as we all took out our weapons. I slashed at the rock-fiend, to find that it really was like rock-it didn't seem to be hurt at all. Sakura probably figured that she wouldn't be able to hurt it either, and instead shot an arrow at the flame-fiend.  
  
The arrow did some damage, but the flame grew larger. Eyeing it suspiciously, Sakura said, "I don't think we should let it get any bigger." Sky pondered, then looked behind her and motioned to Nyk. He ran forward, and she stepped back with Liya. Smart-Sky didn't have any offensive magic, and physical attacks didn't seem to be the way to go.  
  
The rock-fiend then ran-well, waddled-forward, to slam into me. I saw stars as I was knocked to the ground. However, I really only had a few bruises, and quickly stood up again to see Nyk cast a Blizzard spell on the flame- fiend. This seemed to hurt it more then normal attacks, but it didn't die- only swelled larger.  
  
Sakura aimed an arrow carefully and shot, hitting the rock-fiend in an almost invisible crack in its armor. She jerked her head at me, but the flame-fiend attacked first.  
  
It cast a Fire spell on Nyk, who winced and took out a potion. The burns on his hands and arms faded away as he drank it. Finally getting a chance to attack, I dashed forward, pausing for a second first to aim; I slashed the rock-fiend between its armor. It roared and collapsed, dissolving into brightly colored pyreflies.  
  
I felt pretty proud of myself, but then Sakura shot the flame-fiend. It inflated a third time-now it was as big as me. Sky, seeing what was going to happen, ran forward and cast a Shell spell on Sakura, right before the flame exploded over her head and dissolved into pyreflies.  
  
Sakura was knocked down by the particularly vicious attack. Nyk and I trotted over, and she sat up. "That was exciting," she commented, and coughed smoke. I sighed, glad that the Shell had cut down on the damage. Nyk waved his staff in the air, and Sakura was briefly outlined in blue-the Cure spell.  
  
"You know white magic, too?" I asked, surprised.  
  
"Not really," he replied. "Only the cure and antidote type spells."  
  
Sky walked over to us, trailing Liya. Sakura stood up and grinned, fully healed. "Let's get going, then!"  
  
The next few fights were much quicker, now that we knew what to do. Sky seemed to have picked up a handy spell sometime in the last fight-how, I don't know, magic is peculiar that way-that nullified fire spells, which was extremely helpful. We were able to make it to a nice spot to eat lunch without getting too damaged.  
  
Nyk had some food packed in his suitcase, and the ship's captain had also given us some of their rolls. We ate quickly-who would want to stay out there very long? By the time the sun said half past twelve, we were on our way again.  
  
"This looks like a nice spot to sleep," Sky said much later that day. We had come upon a large rock, wide enough on top to fit twenty people. No fiends would bother us up there. Sure, it might be more comfortable down on the ground, but would you want to be woken up in the middle of the night by a monster nibbling on your leg?  
  
There was a forest nearby, so we could find plenty of wood for a campfire. There was some debate about whether this would attract fiends rather then drive them off, but we agreed one person would keep watch.  
  
I had the first watch. A half hour into it, Sakura started talking. "This rock's too hard. I don't mind sleeping on the ground."  
  
"You're forgetting about the fiends," I muttered, not wanting to wake the others up. "You wouldn't survive the night."  
  
"Hmph." Apparently she dropped off to sleep soon afterwards.  
  
I looked up at the stars, trying to find shapes in them. The village elders had told me about them-they would take us children out on the docks on a cloudless night and point out Ifrit, Shiva, and the other Aeons, as well as more everyday objects, like ladles. The other children would ooh and aah, and amuse themselves with making up their own. Sighing, I looked back down at the ground and thought, I wonder if I was the only one who could never see the pictures in the stars? 


	7. Lord Ochu

Sorry about yet another late update. My muse, you see, went on a two week vacation to Florida, and I couldn't find much inspiration. But now, for your viewing pleasure, here is chapter seven! All cell phones and beepers must be turned off at this time. Both exits have been checked and are clear in the case of an emergency. Please don't dump popcorn on the floor, or stick gum under your seats. The underpaid, overworked people who clean this place will thank you.  
  
Chapter 7  
  
Lord Ochu  
"This would be so much easier if we had chocobos." Nyk rubbed the back of his neck in thought. "We'd be there by noon today, and without any fiends bothering us."  
  
"You don't see any chocobos around here, though, do you?" I said, gesturing to the trees around us. We had gotten up early in the morning, hoping to get to Luca quickly. When our path led us into a forest around noon, we had chosen speed over the route around the woods that would take at least a day.  
  
"Well, no. I was just thinking out loud. Since it's kind of hard to think in my head, with Sakura being loud enough to wake the dead!"  
  
Sakura looked at him and stopped humming, like she had been for at least half an hour. "You trying to write a poem? I like to hum. Why should I stop, anyway? Liya appreciates my talent." She looked at her sister, who nodded.  
  
"I like that song. It's pretty."  
  
"You might attract fiends," I pointed out. We, luckily, hadn't encountered any fiends since we entered the woods. When they finally did come, we were all expecting something big and nasty that we all wanted to avoid. "If they come when people yell and annoy them, who knows? They might think the same about humming."  
  
"Oh, sure. Let's all pick on Sakura now!" But she did stop humming. Nyk grinned and looked over his shoulder to ask Sky something that I couldn't hear, and she looked down at the map she was carrying.  
  
"...not sure," I heard her reply as I walked over to where she had stopped walking. She frowned. "Rai? Did we stop here-"she pointed-"or here for lunch?"  
  
I looked. "That field there, I think."  
  
"I think so, too. Now, that would mean...we're in this forest, here." Nyk let out a strangled sound and I grimaced as we realized where we were-the woods that the captain of the ship had pointed out as being especially full of dangerous fiends.  
  
"I wouldn't overreact," Sky told us calmly. "We've been here for over an hour, and haven't been attacked once. It's probably been a while since the captain visited these woods, anyway. Let's just keep going, and we'll deal with any fiends we encounter when we get to them."  
  
In the face of that advice, it would have seemed kind of childish to be scared. Besides, she was right-we'd handled the fiends in the plains. How much harder could they be here?  
  
We got our answer an hour later.  
  
By that time, we were all convinced that the captain had been wrong. After all, with no fiends in two hours, this place was hardly dangerous.  
  
"Look!" Sakura called, and pointed up ahead. "We're almost out." Sure enough, she was pointing at an opening in the trees up ahead. Bright daylight shone through, and lightened the area around us. Impatient, Sakura started to jog to get to the daylight faster. Liya tugged on the edge of my shirt, and I kneeled down to look at her.  
  
"Are you an' Sky gonna leave when we get there?"  
  
I paused. "Not right away. We'll be there a couple days, to rest and stuff. But yeah...we'll have to leave sooner or later."  
  
Liya frowned. "I wanna come."  
  
"You can't, Liya. You're not old enough."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"It's going to be dangerous, too much for you."  
  
"Why-" She was cut off by Sakura yelling from up ahead and a loud boom that shook the ground. Liya covered her ears. I looked around desperately for a place to...the trees!  
  
"Liya!" I said. She looked at me, plainly scared. I picked her up and put her on a low branch of the tree next to us. It was high enough that nothing would hurt her up there, I hoped. "Stay there," I told her. She hugged the tree trunk and stared at me as I dashed towards the opening of the woods.  
  
What I saw there almost made me drop my shuriken, which I had pulled out while running. The fiend there was like a giant plant, with dozens of whipping tentacles. It was tall as the trees around us, and outlined by the sun like it was it looked pure black.  
  
The rest of my party was warily standing under a tree, poised for battle. I joined them, and we began to fight.  
  
Sakura loosed an arrow at the monstrous fiend, who seemed to shrug it off like I would a paper cut. Sky quickly cast the protect spell on herself, then on Nyk-magic users were much more vulnerable to attacks. The giant fiend swept a tentacle at me, which I easily dodged-to be hit by another coming up from behind. Nyk cast fire spells like there was no tomorrow, as Sakura loosed another arrow.  
  
The fire spells seemed to hurt it-or at least annoy it. It turned most of its tentacles towards Nyk, who now looked rather worried. He looked at Sky, shrugged, and shook his head-he didn't have enough energy to cast any more magic.  
  
Sky turned to me and called, "Distract it! I need to summon!" I didn't want to get too close to it, in case I was caught in the summon spell, so using my shuriken was out. I looked around distractedly, and found a small rock. The fiend had turned to Sakura, who was hastily gulping a potion, but when I threw the rock, it jerked and came at me. Dodging behind a tree, I picked up several more rocks and threw them one by one.  
  
The fiend, having blocked most of my rocks with its waving tentacles, returned to harrying Sakura. I shot a distressed look at Sky-how long could it take to summon!? Just as I was thinking that, what seemed to be a pillar of fire erupted from the ground.  
  
The pillar of fire rose about twenty feet, but strangely didn't scorch any of the trees. The larger flames died down, and I could see that what I'd thought was a pillar of fire was actually a large, flaming lion-like Aeon.  
  
The Aeon landed on the ground, and Sky patted its neck like I might pet a puppy. Like the trees, she wasn't burned, even when her hand went through the fire. She pointed, and the Aeon-Ifrit, it must be-leaped forward.  
  
This Aeon didn't harry the fiend first, like Valefor had done with the Sinspawn in Besaid. Instead, Ifrit launched right into what must have been its most powerful attack. It shot a ball of flame at the fiend-out of the corner of my eye, I saw Sakura hastily scramble out of the way. The fiend floated up in the air, encased in flame, and Ifrit threw spears of earth at it. The fiend roared, dropped back down to the ground, and dissolved into very few pyreflies for a monster so big.  
  
There was silence for a moment, then Ifrit dissolved into a bonfire, then a small flame, then a wisp of smoke.  
  
Sakura whistled. "Well. Good thing we didn't have to fight more than one of those." I nodded agreement. While she was walking over to Nyk's healer's basket for a couple of potions, I trotted back down the path to get Liya.  
  
She was still sitting in the tree, though several branches higher. I looked at her curiously.  
  
"A mean plant wanted to hurt me," she explained seriously, "so I climbed." So there were other fiends in the forest, then. As she climbed down slowly, I realized how lucky she had been-the tree had many low branches, which made it easy for even her to climb.  
  
As I lifted her down from a low branch, Nyk ran up. "Oh...phew. I figured Rai would put you somewhere safe," he said, kneeling down to look at Liya. He smiled at me. "Thanks."  
  
"No problem." We walked back to Sakura and Sky.  
  
"Let's move on, shall we?" Sky said. She handed the map to me. I looked at it, and saw that we were very close to Luca.  
  
"I thought it was supposed to take three days," I said, confused.  
  
"We probably cut off a day and a half, just by going through the forest." She pointed to the map. "See, it's not very wide, but it's half as long as Mi'ihen."  
  
Sakura shifted her weight from foot to foot. "Come on, let's go then!"  
  
It took another half hour to cross the wide plain between us and Luca. Fiends were back in force, but we were all glad that they were relatively harmless, compared to what we had fought in the forest. It was Liya who first saw Luca.  
  
Sakura had been giving her a piggyback ride, but just as we reached a small hill, she scrambled down and ran ahead.  
  
"Hey, Liya! Wait!" Sakura called. Liya ran over the hill, then turned and came back.  
  
"Cummon! Look!" And with that, she ran ahead again. Sakura shook her head, shrugged, and followed, while the rest of us walked at a slower pace.  
  
We reached the top of the hill to find that Liya had plopped down on the grass, Sakura next to her. They were staring hard into the distance, at something that glittered and shone in the sun-  
  
It was a city. It was glittering white and silver, with splotches of color here and there, and tall spires rising up every so often. To its right was the darker glittering of the ocean, with boats draped with colored flags sailing in to the port. The south of the city had a tall, round structure, half full with shimmering water-although I had never seen one before, I knew this must be the Blitzball dome. We could hear the screaming and cheering of the fans even from where we were standing. A winding green path stretched away from it to the north. The city could have fit Kilika and Besaid combined, and probably several other small villages, too. It was the biggest city I had ever seen-I was nearly speechless with excitement at finding we were finally there.  
  
Luca, the machina capitol of Spira. 


	8. Kiyo Joined Your party!

Hallelujah! Let the world rejoice! I've updated-on time! And yes, the chapter title is a Chrono Cross reference. ^_^  
  
Weasleyfan-don't worry, if I'm not going to update I'll put a note in my Bio.  
  
Thanks, Weasleyfan and Yunalesca, for putting my story on your favorites list! I don't have any cookies...want some pixie sticks?  
  
Chapter 8  
  
Kiyo joined your party!  
"So. Sin has attacked three times in the past week."  
  
Neither Nyk nor Sakura had quite remembered how to get to their grandfather's home, so we ended up wandering Luca for half an hour before finding it. He had welcomed us into his house-he wouldn't turn away his own grandchildren, and no one would turn away a Summoner. After a warm meal, we had all sat out on his balcony and told him why we had come.  
  
Unlike the wizened elders of Kilika, who seemed as if they would break if you looked at them hard enough and who never walked without a cane, Sakura's grandfather seemed more thirty than seventy. Sakura had evidently inherited her shortness and wavy hair from him, while Nyk and Liya, straight haired and taller, probably looked more like the other side of their family. Well, Nyk was tall. Liya, being four, obviously wasn't.  
  
"We don't know if it actually attacked anyone the third time," Sakura said. "It just swam at us."  
  
"Ah, yes," her grandfather replied. "You wouldn't know, would you. An extremely harried messenger came a few days ago and alerted the governor of Luca that Sin was heading in our direction-however, apparently you were able to drive it away, my lady." He nodded to Sky in a way that conveyed he would be bowing if he weren't sitting down.  
  
"Sin attacked Kilika?" Sky asked calmly. Kilika?! Well, where else could he have come from? Another part of my mind replied. But Kilika? It couldn't be! Sin hadn't attacked Kilika in years!  
  
"Yes. That is where you are from, is it not?" Sky nodded. I was still too shocked to say anything, even though my mouth made a valiant attempt to open and get words out. "I am deeply sorry." He sounded as if he meant it.  
  
I was halfway out of my chair before I knew what I was doing. "The....the messenger, is he still here?" I blurted. Sakura looked at me, alarmed. Her grandfather nodded.  
  
"If you turn left from here, then turn right on to Spring Way, you should come to a hotel. He is staying there."  
  
"Rai..." Sakura started to say. Sky cut her off.  
  
"Go ahead," she said, and smiled weakly. I walked out the door without a word.  
  
Kilika? I still couldn't believe Sin attacked it. But it's perfectly logical, my sensible side said. He does attack cities, you know.  
  
I couldn't think about it now, I told myself as I looked for a street sign. Couldn't think about what happened, who lived, who-  
  
Shaking my head angrily, I found Spring Way and turned on to it. I would ask the messenger. There was no point worrying.  
  
But I have every right to worry!  
  
Be calm. You'll know soon enough.  
  
Where the heck's that hotel?!  
  
Be calm, Rai. Look at where you're walking. This is your first time in a big city, remember. Look at how tall the buildings are, how white and shining the streets are, how everyone's wearing bright colors.  
  
I almost walked right past the hotel, I was trying to distract myself so hard. I was also angry, which didn't help much with my navigation-- angry at myself for leaving, angry at Sin for attacking, angry at the people who don't mark hotels clearly enough. The front door was open, so I went inside.  
  
Sitting on one of the couches arranged artfully among potted plants was a boy a few years older than I was. He was staring intently in to a recording sphere, an Al Bhed invention. Recently Yevonites had grudgingly started using them as well, but they were not very widely used, and I briefly wondered where the boy had gotten one. Wondering that, I realized he wasn't from Kilika, and I had never seen him before. He had blond hair tied in to a short ponytail, and he wore the usual shirt and breeches that I thought half of Spira must wear, I had seen them so often. I cleared my throat, and he looked up.  
  
I walked over to him. "I've...heard you're from Kilika," I said warily.  
  
"He looked up at me with a slightly perplexed expression. "Well....no. I'm just the one who saw Kilika get attacked."  
  
I swallowed. "So it was, then?"  
  
"Yeah. You're not from there, are you?" he asked worriedly.  
  
"Um. Yes."  
  
"Oh."  
  
"I was just wondering if you knew who..."  
  
He understood what I was trying to say. "No," he said. "Our ship was passing by, and we saw Sin swim away. We landed, but there wasn't much we could do. A Summoner was there, and we left as she was performing the sending." He sounded faintly put out, and I looked at him quizzically. "Ah. She didn't seem to want us there, practically pushed us on to our boat. This kid O'aka came here with me, so you might want to talk to him. He'll probably know more than I do. He's down the hall a bit."  
  
I thanked him and walked down the hall. I knew O'aka; he lived about ten steps from where I did. Had lived. My house wouldn't be there anymore. I was faintly upset about that, but a strange calm seemed to have descended over me. Later I would realize it was partially shock, but then I was glad not to be angry at the world any more.  
  
O'aka couldn't tell me any more than the boy had. He hadn't seen my family, either alive or dead, but he hadn't seen much of anyone. I asked what he was going to do now, and he said he would either open a shop or travel the world. I suggested he try being a merchant-he could sell things while traveling-and he said he liked the idea, and would think about it. We said goodbye, and I returned to the lobby of the hotel, feeling oddly that I had been talking to a casual acquaintance rather than someone I'd known since childhood.  
  
I paused when I walked past the boy. "You said...another Summoner was there?"  
  
"Yeah. Are you the Summoner I heard was in Luca?"  
  
"No, I'm her guardian. What was the Summoner's name?"  
  
"Um...Lady Rissa? Rilla? Something like that. You're a guardian?" I nodded. "Can I travel with you and your Summoner for a while? I need to get back to Bevelle, and it's not very safe to take that journey by myself. Oh!" He shook his head. "I'm Kazukiyo... Kiyo, for short. And you are?"  
  
"I'm Rai. You'll have to ask Sky, the Summoner, if you can come." I never knew so many people would want to come with us, I thought as I distrustfully eyed the sphere he was still holding. "You're not...Al Bhed, are you?"  
  
Kiyo's eyes flicked to the sphere, and he chuckled. He looked up at me and pointed to his eyes. They were green like Sky's, although a shade darker, and also like hers, they had no spiral pupil-the telltale "sign of the heathen", as my mother used to call them.  
  
"My dad works with the Al Bhed, selling spheres and electric lights to people. Our family isn't exactly popular for that." He stood up. He was at least a head taller than my five-feet-six. "Can I meet Lady Sky, then?"  
  
"Sure, I guess," I replied. We walked out the door, and I realized that I knew we were on Spring Way-but I had no idea how to get back to the others. I looked around helplessly for a few seconds, then saw a shop that looked familiar. We walked toward it, and I saw the place where I'd turned before. Another familiar turn brought us to the right street. "First Street. Hrm. Weird name," I muttered.  
  
"First time in Luca?" Kiyo asked.  
  
"Yeah. First time out of Kilika, too. There's the house," I said. I must have looked very confused, I thought, for him to know I've never been here before. I opened the front door, which I'd left ajar before, and we walked in.  
  
"Hey," Sakura said as I walked on to the balcony. "Who's that?"  
  
"Um. He'd better explain," I said.  
  
"Hi," he said, nodding. Like Sakura's grandfather had before, he made it seem like a full bow. I idly wondered how people did that. "My name's Kiyo. Our boat was passing by Kilika when it, ah, got attacked," he said.  
  
"So it was, then?" Sky asked.  
  
"Yeah. We couldn't do anything there, so we made a detour to Luca and docked here. I left the ship to tell the Luca mayor that Sin was heading this way, but it was driven off by an Aeon-we saw the battle on the horizon, and we saw Sin swim off. The ship left-we were supposed to be in Bevelle about a week ago, and they didn't want to waste time-so I have to go back by land. I knew there was a Summoner here, and...." He shrugged. "I figure it would be safer to travel with a Summoner than by myself, with fiends and all, so I was wondering if I could travel with you."  
  
Sky motioned for him to sit down. Sakura jumped up and trotted to the balcony door. "Rai? Could you come to the kitchen and help me? It's almost time for dinner."  
  
I obligingly followed her, but once we were in the hallway, I said, "I'm not a very good cook."  
  
"Doesn't matter. Look at the balcony." Kiyo was sitting next to Sakura's grandfather, across from Sky and Nyk. Liya had gone to bed earlier.  
  
"And?"  
  
"You don't notice?" she said impatiently. "I noticed right away."  
  
"Yeah. And you can see the beach when we're fifty miles from land."  
  
"Yeah, well. Look at Kiyo and Sky. They look a lot alike, don't they?"  
  
I looked again. They both had blond hair and green eyes, that I saw immediately. "I guess their faces look kind of alike," I said, thinking out loud.  
  
"Yeah. When you were asleep on the ship, she told us she didn't really have a family. So.I just think maybe they could be related, that's all."  
  
"Huh," I said bemusedly. Neither Sky nor I had ever wondered who her family was, really. "Too bad no one uses last names anymore...we could tell right away, then."  
  
"Yeah. Well, it's a possibility. Come on. I wasn't lying when I said I needed help. I can't make so much as a sandwich."  
  
Sakura led me to the kitchen-she must have looked around a bit while I was gone; she said herself she had never been here before. She found a loaf of bread in a drawer, and rummaging in the icebox, I found some ham and cheese.  
  
The icebox was a lot different than the ones we used at home. Our iceboxes were made out of wood, and we had to change the ice every day so none would melt and come through the cracks. Our food wasn't really cold, but it was enough to keep things like meat from rotting. This icebox, on the other hand, was made out of some sort of thin metal, and there was a drain in the bottom that apparently ran to the plumbing. This probably kept the ice from having to be changed so often, I thought, and the metal was probably to keep the food cooler. All in all, I was more impressed with this than the shops outside.  
  
"I asked her!" Sakura said triumphantly, jolting me out of my wonderment for all things metal and cold. "I asked Sky if I could be her guardian, and she said I could!"  
  
"That's great!" I said, and meant it. I liked Sakura, and had gotten to know her well over the past couple of days.  
  
"Yeah. Course, wonders never cease-Nyk asked, too."  
  
"He did?"  
  
"Yeah. Sky said he could come, too...Liya's going to stay with Grandpa till we come back."  
  
"I'm glad he's coming, too." Digging in the icebox, I found a head of lettuce. "Maybe we can make a salad. I'm no sure about Kiyo, though."  
  
"Why not?" Sakura said. "Are there any carrots? Or onions?"  
  
I blinked, then realized she was talking about the salad. "Um...yeah. We can cut up some cheese for it, too," I said, straightening up and taking my head out of the icebox. "I mean, he seems nice enough, but his story's a little...fishy."  
  
"You'd better cut the bread. I'd end up beheading myself. What about his story?"  
  
"When I talked to him in the hotel, he said there was another Summoner in Kilika...he didn't mention it to Sky."  
  
"That's logical, I guess..."  
  
"Well. Remember, it was raining when Sin attacked?"  
  
"Not before, but during. Yeah."  
  
"How could he have seen the battle on the horizon, like he said?"  
  
"Hrm."  
  
"And he said that he knew there was a Summoner in town...the people we asked for directions, we didn't mention Sky was a Summoner, and we haven't really talked to anyone else. He asked if I was the Summoner he knew was in Luca...'the' Summoner? How did he know there was even one here? I mean, usually Al Bhed know, with how often they try to kidnap them, but his eyes don't have spirals in them, so he can't be Al Bhed..."  
  
"Hrm. Well, then. Let's keep an eye on him, shall we?"  
  
"Yeah...I guess that's all we can do."  
  
"And now," Sakura said, holding out a knife with a flourish, "cut the bread, please."  
  
I took the knife and began slicing. My mind must have still been on Kiyo, though, because the second time I tried to cut a slice, I missed and hit my finger.  
  
"Ow," I said, bringing my finger up to my mouth and sucking on it.  
  
Sakura sighed. "I never thought I'd find someone more dangerous in the kitchen than I was. Let's just stick with sandwiches...if we try to make a salad, we'll probably burn the house down."  
  
"You don't cook a salad."  
  
"Yeah. I know." 


	9. Gratituitous Blitzball Game

Hello, all. Turns out I wasn't as late as I thought I'd be after all. There is much rejoicing. Yahoo. Heh.  
  
Chapter 09  
  
Gratituitous Blitzball Game  
"Hmm. Aurochs versus the Kilika Beasts, four thirty. Goers versus the Al Bhed Psyches, five."  
  
"Let's see the Goers play," suggested Sky. "I don't think any of us has seen them before; we've seen our home teams practice." We had all decided that while we were in Luca, we should make the most of our time there. Obviously, this meant seeing a Blitzball game-pretty much the only entertainment around.  
  
Besides, Sky told me later, this was probably her last chance to ever see a match played.  
  
"Okay, then." Sakura frowned at the pamphlet she was holding. Several more were spread out on the table in front of her, for various events and different days. I think Sakura's grandfather collects them or something. Sakura whistled. "A thousand gil for one measly ticket? What a rip-off!"  
  
I took the pamphlet. "Let me see that. Oh, here-those are only the seats in the middle. The ones lower down and higher up are a lot cheaper."  
  
"I still say it's a rip-off."  
  
"They might let us in for free, me being a Summoner," Sky said, frowning.  
  
"They might let you in for free, but I'm not so sure about us."  
  
"They will."  
  
"You know what." Sakura said thoughtfully. She didn't finish her sentence, but instead just got up from the table and walked out the door. I looked at Sky, who shrugged.  
  
"How do you like Luca?" I asked. We hadn't had much chance to talk yesterday.  
  
"It's big," Sky said, smiling a little wistfully. "Colorful. Everyone seems loud, but cheerful. It's a lot different from Kilika. But, then, that's part of the reason I became a Summoner. How else would I get to see the world? That's not all of it, though." she seemed to be talking to herself more than me. I wasn't quite sure how we got on the topic of why she became a Summoner, anyway. "I wasn't really sure before. Oh, I knew I wanted to help people, that Sin was bad. but all I knew for sure was that this was the right thing to do." I was a little surprised to hear this. Sky isn't the kind of person who just does things on suspicion-she has to have a definite motive before she takes action. "But.before, I never actually saw someone who'd had everything taken away from them by Sin. I was too young when my home was destroyed. Sakura, and Nyk, they've lost everything so many times I sometimes wondered how they could still smile. I think I know, now. They've hardened themselves to it, taken it and moved on." She stared out over the balcony. "That's why.I'm sure that's why, now. I don't want anyone to have to accept death and destruction as a part of everyday life."  
  
There wasn't really anything I could say to that, so it was probably a good thing a yawning Nyk came through the door just then. "Why's everyone up so early?" he said, a bit disgruntled.  
  
"Get up on the wrong side of the bed?" Sky asked, grinning rather.  
  
"Mmph," he replied, sitting down next to her. "Liya jumped on me. Said she wanted breakfast." This was so unlike Liya that I burst into laughter- besides, anyone looks amusing with their eyes all squinted and their hair sticking straight up. Nyk glared at me. "She's downstairs with Grandfather."  
  
"Did you see Sakura leave?" I asked.  
  
"Mmm.I think so.not sure."  
  
"'Kay." I got up and left. Trotting downstairs, I wondered where she could have gone. I peeked in the kitchen, but the only ones there were Liya, munching happily on a piece of bread with honey, and her grandfather, cooking something on his stove.  
  
She must have left, then, I thought to myself. I walked to the front door and peered outside. There were many more people in the streets then than there had been the day before-a bit surprising, considering how early it was--but Sakura wasn't one of them.  
  
I wasn't even sure why I needed to find her. It's not like I expected her to get into trouble or anything.  
  
I stepped out the door and tapped the shoulder of a woman loitering near the door. "Er, excuse me.how do you get to the Blitzball stadium?"  
  
"Hmm? Oh. Turn left at the end of the street, then keep going straight until you get to the docks. Turn right after the third one, then left. Or just go in that direction," she said, pointing to a spot on the horizon. I looked, and saw the stadium rising above the skyline, I thanked her, feeling a bit foolish, and headed towards the end of the street.  
  
As I was turning left, someone took hold of my wrist. I pulled my hand away and jumped around, relaxing only slightly when I saw it was Kiyo.  
  
He looked down at me-he had to, being a good six inches taller-and grinned. "Jumpy this morning, aren't we? I yelled, but I guess you didn't hear me."  
  
"No." I said. "You want something?" Once I heard them, the words sounded a lot ruder than I'd meant them to.  
  
He shook his head. "Only the pleasure of your company.if you don't bite my head off, first." I smiled in spite of myself. For all that I had some suspicions about him, he didn't seem to be that bad of a person.  
  
"Sorry," I said. "I don't think being in crowds agrees with me."  
  
"Really? I like big cities like this." I started walking again, and Kiyo fell into step next to me. "Course, if you put a spider within ten feet of me I panic and try and cast Ultima on it. I guess everyone has their own weird phobias."  
  
"It's not a phobia, really," I said. "I'm just not used to them. There were only about seventy people in Kilika."  
  
"Where're you headed?" Kiyo asked quickly. I guess the expression on my face must have given away some of what I was thinking.  
  
"Right now?" I asked, glad for the change in subject. "The Blitzball stadium. I think Sakura's there."  
  
"You going to a game today?"  
  
"Yeah, the Goers versus the Psyches."  
  
"No, don't turn right here." I looked up at him, confused.  
  
"The lady who gave me directions said turn right at the third dock."  
  
"Shortcut," Kiyo explained. "It doesn't have as many turns. I wonder who built this city, anyway?"  
  
"All the streets seem to curve," I agreed. "Like a giant spiral."  
  
"And there's no real center. here we are," he said. Sure enough, in front of us there was a large, blue-gray wall with several red-framed doors. To the left of where we were standing, there was an oval window, with a tired- looking woman leaning out of it. Sure enough, there was Sakura standing in front of her, apparently talking, with the aid of expansive hand gestures. I trotted up to her.  
  
"Hi!" she said brightly as she saw me approach. "Guess what I got!"  
  
"Six prime seats for five hundred gil," the woman at the window said dolefully. "You her friend? Could you take her away before she has me paying her?" Sakura laughed and walked away, with me following her. Kiyo waved as he passed us, going in the other direction. I waved back.  
  
"I see you've lost your suspicious nature," Sakura said cheerfully.  
  
"Have not. That's not something I should be defending, is it." Sakura shook her head. "We met up on the way here and chatted for a while. He's nice enough. How'd you get the tickets so cheap?"  
  
"Oh, it was easy. I asked if Summoners could get in free, and she said yes, but guardians couldn't. I said Why not? and she said something about Losing money. I made a pretty big stink about not paying proper respect to people, and how you won't lose much money if it's only a couple times in a decade, and that with two thousand seats it won't matter if a couple are cheap. So we bargained down to a hundred gil, then she asked how many tickets we needed. I'm pretty sure she expected me to say one or two.you should have seen the look on her face when I said six!"  
  
I chuckled. "Yeah, she seemed pretty shell-shocked when I came up. Who're the extra two tickets for?"  
  
"I figured Liya would like to see a match, and maybe Grandfather would too, I don't know. Is it left here or right?"  
  
I looked around. The buildings to my left looked pretty familiar. "Left."  
  
As it turned out, right was the correct way. Sakura and I managed to see a good half of Luca before arriving at her grandfather's house. We were both pretty hungry by then, so we headed straight to the kitchen.  
  
"Where were you? You've been gone forty-five minutes," Sky said as we entered the room. She and Nyk were both just finishing omelettes, and Liya was on her third piece of toast and honey, by the number of crusts on her plate. She must be a slow eater, I thought.  
  
"We got lost," Sakura said with a shrug. "I got tickets to the game real cheap." She sat down at the table and took a muffin from the basket in the middle. "Five hundred gil for six."  
  
Sky raised an eyebrow, but it was Nyk who asked, "What did you do to the poor ticket vendor?"  
  
"Jeez, why're you acting like I threatened her with death or something?" Sakura said in a mock offended tone.  
  
Nyk stood up and put his plate in the sink. "I know you, that's why."  
"Well, Genna, did you ever expect this?" The announcer's voice managed to cut through the din of two thousand cheering people.  
  
"No, I sure didn't, Dan. The Luca Goers have crushed all opposition for the last ten years, and I didn't think they'd let the underdog score so much as one goal."  
  
"Folks, at the start of the second half we have a tie game, after a come- from-behind, last minute goal by Luren of the Psyches, bringing the score to six points."  
  
"Let me tell you, I'm on the edge of my seat right now!"  
  
From somewhere up above the stands came a blaring horn, signaling the start of the second half of the game. Everyone in the stadium was on their feet, cheering one team or the other, and our little group was no exception. Sakura and I were cheering on Luca, while Sky and Nyk were yelling for a Psyches victory-the Al Bheds aren't nearly as hated in the Blitzball world as they are in the real one. Liya, after a few moments of being terrified by the crowds, was happily twirling around on her seat, yelling "Go Goers! Go Psyches! Go Goers!" Her grandfather had decided not to come, saying humorously that screaming crowds were no place for an old man.  
  
"And the Psyches start off with the ball, driving through the center-a remarkable pass to Jeti on the left-oow, and he's bowled over in a superb display of a Venom Tackle!"  
  
"The Goers are plainly trying to confuse the other team, in a rapid right- left-right pass-"  
  
"An intercept by Marth, right defense! He passes it forward-ooh, careful now, don't let the ball slip!"  
  
"And Luren grabs the ball, sets it up-goal! Seven-six, Psyches in the lead!" Sky cheered, while Sakura shook her head sadly. It was strange-none of us had done more than hear about these teams before now, and we were cheering them on like we knew them all personally. I guess being in the middle of two thousand cheering people and not cheering would be almost impossible, though.  
  
"Three and thirty left in the game, and it looks like the Goers are getting worried!"  
  
"Guess they got too used to winning, eh Dan?" one announcer joked.  
  
"Well, they're launching an all-out offense now! Goers start with the ball."  
  
Over the next two minutes, the Goers scored five points, to resounding cheers from the crowd. However, by the time there was fifteen seconds left, the score was again tied.  
  
"Luren of the Psyches tackles the left forward! He grabs the ball and-ooh, narrow miss there! Tern, goalie, lobs the ball out of the goal-intercepted by Marth, sets up and bicycle kicks-GOAL! Four seconds left.three.two."  
  
"And the match is over! Twelve-eleven to the Al Bhed Psyches! What a match! Wiped those grins off the Lucan faces, didn't it?"  
  
I don't think anyone listened to the announcers' ending chatter. I don't think anyone could have heard even if they wanted to. People grumbled or screamed their excitement, and I was left feeling like I'd been watching an hour-long game, instead of only ten minutes. All too soon, people started to flow down the aisles of the stadium and out the doors at the bottom.  
  
"Let's wait a few minutes," suggested Sky, her face still glowing with excitement. "The crowds will thin out then."  
  
The rest of us agreed. I watched as the players swam out of the pool, and, a few seconds later, as the water began to drain. The sphere pool was half empty when we finally made our way down to the exits.  
  
It was still early in the year, so in the twenty minutes we had been in the stadium evening had turned into full night. On the streets, lights hung along the sides of houses lit up, probably so anyone out walking at night wouldn't trip over their own feet. Lights came on in the windows of houses, some gas lamps, mostly electric lights. There were still a lot of people out strolling-women with shopping bags, groups of children dashing here and there, couples with their arms around one another, and even a few families.  
  
For some reason, seeing all the happy people brought homesickness thundering down on me. No. I couldn't be homesick. I didn't know how badly Kilika had been hurt by Sin's attack, but some part of me knew for sure that if I went back, my house and family would be gone. And even if they weren't, I couldn't-I wouldn't-turn back now.  
  
Tuning out Sakura and Nyk's happy banter, Sky's laughing comments on it, Liya's happy little made-up song about nothing in particular, I looked up at the sky. But with all the light shining down in the city, or perhaps clouds moving in from the coast, I couldn't find the stars. 


	10. In Which There Are Finally Chocobos

Yes, yes. I know, late again. I had about six pages of this typed up when my foot hit the computer cord and knocked it out of its plug. Boom, no more chapter. So then I come home-I was at the school library-and try to work on it again, and my computer freezes up. Don't you hate days like that? Anyway, you have a late night, a tired writer, and a very large pixie stick to thank that the chapter's here at all. There was much rejoicing.  
  
Chapter 10  
  
In Which There Are (Finally) Chocobos  
  
The clouds that I had seen last night must have moved up the coast. When we all met on the large stone platform outside the Mi'ihen Highroad the next morning, a pale gray fog obscured everything. Leaning over the balcony at the front of the platform, I could just barely make out the outlines of the Blitzball stadium. Mi'ihen was just a dirt track leading into gray nothingness. The temperature must have dropped when the fog came in-I was shivering. My tunic and leggings were appropriate for the tropical sun and warm breezes of Kilika, but I probably should have brought a coat. Ah, well, I thought, I'll warm up when we start walking.  
  
Sakura was amusing herself by standing next to me and shouting over the balcony, wondering at how it sounded thin and quiet and had no echo at all. I've come to not mind her as much as I'd thought I would-it was nice to have someone so cheerful for a friend. Sky was sitting on the stone steps leading up to Mi'ihen, fishing through a small knapsack. Sakura's grandfather had provided three for us, to carry food and blankets. Nyk was leaning against a stone pillar that stood by the stairs. I looked back towards Luca and saw Kiyo trotting up the road towards us.  
  
"Sorry I'm a bit late," he said as he came within hearing distance. I saw that he was now wearing a belt with what looked like two knives handing from it. "Not much of a morning person, really." Sakura grinned and jerked her thumb at Nyk who, despite having been up for two hours, still looked half asleep. The rest of us were quite chipper in comparison.  
  
"Shall we get going, then?" Sky said, looking up. We all murmured our agreement and came over to the stairs.  
  
The sun started to rise high in the sky in the first few minutes of walking. Within ten minutes, a good part of the fog was gone, and the road was much easier to see. It was a dirt track surrounded by grass, and bushes were growing a little ways past the path. I thought I could see trees in the distance, but I wasn't sure.  
  
"We'll probably be able to see the ocean once we get farther on," Sakura commented. She was holding the map and looking at it intently. "Before that, I think there's an inn. the writing's kind of blurred. The map stops a little after that." She rolled up the map.  
  
"How far is it to the inn?" Sky asked.  
  
Sakura unrolled the map again. "Let's see.it looks like about twenty miles. We'll be there by lunch," she said confidently, re-rolling the map.  
  
Sky shrugged. "If you think so."  
  
"It really would be nice if we had some chocobos," Nyk commented.  
  
"I've only heard of them in the calm lands, though," his sister interjected.  
  
"I know. Just-"  
  
There was no time for further conversation-that's when the fiends struck.  
  
Three fiends were in the group. One looked like a large stone, and the second like a circle made of ice. The third was a strange-looking, purple imp.  
  
"I'll stay back and heal," Sky called. That was smart. New fiends can be dangerous-we've learned that by experience.  
  
We all pulled out our weapons. Sakura shot at the rock-like fiend, but her arrow just bounced off. She ran forward and grabbed it, then quickly dodged sideways as the rock-fiend barreled towards her. Nyk cast a fire spell on the ice-fiend, who must have been weak against fire-it fell to the ground, where it dissolved into pyreflies.  
  
Frowning at the rock-fiend, I decided to try something new. Concentrating on my shuriken, I was rewarded with a red globe of light surrounding the top point. I ran forward and slashed, and even though my shuriken bounced off the armor like the arrow had, the globe of light disappeared and the rock-fiend then glowed a dull red. The next arrow Sakura shot killed the fiend, and I grinned with pleasure.  
  
All this time, Kiyo and the imp-fiend had been sparring. The imp had landed a couple of hits, to judge by the red scratches on Kiyo's arms, but I couldn't tell if Kiyo had-every one I saw, the imp dodged. Then Kiyo shook his head exasperatedly and drew a symbol in the air with one knife. The imp dropped to the ground, apparently asleep. Kiyo slashed it and it dissolved into pyreflies.  
  
As we continued on, I asked Kiyo, "Don't you think it's a little unfair, to kill the fiend in its sleep?"  
  
He shook his head. "It attacked us, so you could say it was in self- defense. And besides, when people die, do you know what happens if they're unsent?" I shook my head. "Either they stay on Spira as ghosts, kind of, or they become fiends. So every fiend we kill is a soul being sent to the farplane."  
  
I started to think about my family and friends in Kilika-had those who didn't survive become fiends? -until I remembered Kiyo had told me about another Summoner there. Any who died had been sent, then, at least. "Oh."  
  
We hadn't gone ten steps before we were attacked again. This time we were against two bomb fiends like the one's we'd fought on the way to Luca and a large, dragon-like beast. We were used to fighting the bomb fiends, so we took those out first while trying our best to dodge the dragon-fiend's attacks. It wasn't very fast, but it was strong, to judge by the way I saw stars after it rammed me.  
  
After Nyk killed the last bomb with a Blizzard spell, Kiyo faced the dragon- fiend and made another symbol in the air with his knife, a different one than last time. A cloud of black smoke appeared around its head, and apparently blinded it, to judge by the way it just ran around randomly after that. With most danger of being hurt gone, I was able to get close enough to do damage to it. Killing it took a good five minutes; as I said before, it was strong.  
  
After battle, Kiyo picked up one of the red orbs the bombs had dropped. "You have any more of these?" he asked thoughtfully.  
  
"We picked up about thirty on our way to Luca," Nyk replied wryly.  
  
Kiyo dropped the orb into his pocket and pulled out a light blue orb. "Rai, can I see your Shuriken for a minute?"  
  
"Why?"  
  
"I want to try something." I shrugged and handed it to him. He unscrewed one of the blades-why hadn't I known they could come off?-and placed the blue orb into a depression in the center. He screwed the blade back on and handed it to me.  
  
I took it back, curious as to what he had done. Nothing happened for a few seconds, but then the four blades began to glow blue, and I almost dropped my weapon in shock. Recovering, I placed my hand to the side of one of the blades and pulled it back quickly when I realized the blades felt like ice- and were as cold as it.  
  
"What did you do?" I asked.  
  
"I figured if I used an ice orb-picked it up from that ice fiend-it would make the weapon have an ice attack. It should work better against the bombs," he said, a bit smug.  
  
"I mean, how did you know you could do that?"  
  
"Remember how I said my dad works with the Al Bhed?" he replied as Sky cast a Cure spell on Sakura. "They invented it, as a way to customize weapons. And to have something to do with all the useless stuff the fiends dropped. One of them taught me how."  
  
"Oh." I wasn't entirely sure I wanted to use something the Al Bhed invented, but it did seem to help against the next bombs we encountered-ten steps after we set off.  
  
"What's going on here?" a rather annoyed Sakura asked no one in particular after the fourth battle.  
  
Things continued like that for the next few hours. Needless to say, we were pretty exhausted when we stopped for a break near the shelter of some old ruins.  
  
"We've only gone two miles!" a dismayed Sakura exclaimed, holding out the map. "We'll never make it to-"  
  
"Fiends!" Sky yelled. Two bombs and a dragon-fiend immediately beset us.  
  
"I can't cast it anymore," exclaimed Kiyo-'it' meaning the Darkness spell. "Cast it too many times already!"  
  
The dragon decided to run after him, and as his knives weren't of much use- he had to be close to use them-there was nothing to do but run. The fiend darted after Nyk then, but halfway to him decided to come after me.  
  
I was backed up into the bushes, and had only one way to go-but that was forward, towards the dragon barreling towards me. I've never wished I could do magic more-but then again, as the Water spells Nyk was frantically casting seemed to do no damage to the fiend, maybe I should have wished to be able to attack from far away. At any rate, I hunched down, trying to shield my face, and prepared for the worst.  
  
The worst never came. I heard a mighty roar and the thud of something hitting the ground, but I didn't dare to look up until I heard the faint sighing noise of pyreflies.  
  
Wondering, I stood up to face a tall, black-haired man. He was wearing breeches and a vest-like shirt, and carrying a large sword.  
  
"You all right?" he asked. I nodded, a bit embarrassed-guardians should fight, not cower in the bushes. He walked over to Sky, and I followed.  
  
"I am Summoner Sky," Sky said, bowing. "I thank you for your intervention."  
  
The man bowed back. "Think nothing of it. I am Thad, a Crusader. It is my job to fight fiends on the Highroad-among other things."  
  
Sky introduced the rest of us as her guardians, as I looked behind the man. There was a green cart with two chocobos tied to it sitting by the side of the road. A black-haired woman was sitting on the driver's bench, and several more chocobos were milling about.  
  
"Excuse me, but do you know why there's so many fiends here?" Sakura asked as I looked back at the group.  
  
Thad looked a bit sheepish. "I'm afraid that's our fault. You see, every week or two us Crusaders journey down the Highroad, clearing it of fiends for the next week. We've been. a bit lax in out duties lately. It's been a month since we've been down this way."  
  
"Thad!" the woman called from the cart. "Ye goin' to stand there gabbin' all day?" Thad shook his head ruefully and jogged towards the cart, motioning us to follow.  
  
"My co-Crusader Yume," he said resignedly.  
  
"Who would you folks be?" the woman asked critically as we approached. "Don't see many comin' down the Highroad these days."  
  
Sky introduced us again. "A Summoner, are ye then? I remember the last Summoner to come down this way. You're fair young to be one." Sky stiffened, then relaxed a bit as Yume said, "But the Aeons chose you, they did. You're fair strong for your age, then."  
  
"Yume," Thad said irritably, "likes to think she knows everything."  
  
"But I do," said the woman virtuously. Sakura masked a laugh in a sudden bout of coughing.  
  
"You won't find many fiends for the rest of the road," the man continued. "We've cleared out that part."  
  
"Why do you have so many chocobos?" I asked, curious.  
  
"We wanted to introduce a mounted unit to the Crusaders. We think a Crusader on an armored chocobo would be hard to beat, but." he sighed. "Our current general says it's too costly, requires too much training. We don't know what's going to happen to the chocobos now."  
  
"Might take 'em to the Calm Lands, after Sin's dead," interjected Yume. She then eyed us. "Ye need to get to Djose, right?" Sky nodded. "Lot quicker on a Chocobo. No use after Mushroom Rock, but they're fair helpful on the Highroad. We'll sell you five, hundred gil each."  
  
Thad seemed about to protest, but then sighed. "Well?"  
  
Nyk turned to Sakura. "You said there weren't any around here," he said in a smug whisper as Sky counted out five hundred gil and handed it to Yume. Fiends sometimes dropped gil, and with the constant battles of the morning, we had gotten quite a stash of money.  
  
"We'll be seein' ye, then," Yume said as Thad put bridles on five of the chocobos, led them over to us, and jumped onto the cart bench.  
  
"Good luck!" he called as the cart rumbled off.  
  
"I wonder if they're hard to ride," commented Sakura, looking at one dubiously.  
  
"Well, you figure they were trained to carry Crusaders who didn't know how to ride," said Nyk, hopping onto a nearby rock, then the back of the chocobo nearest him. It peered over its shoulder to look at him, and Nyk rubbed its beak. "See?"  
  
"Sure, but you've ridden before," Sakura said accusingly.  
  
I took the reins of a smaller chocobo than Nyk's and led it over to the rock. I climbed on the rock and made a little jump up to the back of the bird. It wasn't uncomfortable, really, but it felt strange. When the chocobo bent its head to bite at the grass around its feet, I grabbed the reins tight-it felt like I was going to fall off! The chocobo looked back at me reproachfully, and I loosened my grip.  
  
Kiyo was able to swing himself up from the ground, as he was the tallest of us. The other two girls had some problems deciding how to sit-their skirts made it difficult to ride astride like the rest of us. Sakura decided on a sort of sidesaddle, and Sky followed her lead; soon, we were all mounted.  
  
"I've ridden one before," Kiyo called. "You nudge its sides to go. Lean back to stop, and pull the reins. Lean if you want to turn-it'll pretty much follow the way you're leaning. Push with your legs, too, it'll turn away from your leg."  
  
At first, riding was hard. If I got going too fast, I would panic and lean backwards, making my mount stop in its tracks and look at me reproachfully. I was afraid to lean, for fear I would fall off. I can't blame the bird, though-it was extremely patient, as were all the chocobos.  
  
Sometime around half an hour after we started, my fear vanished. Partially it was the sight of Nyk speeding along and waiting impatiently for the rest of us to catch up, and part of it was wanting to get to the inn quicker. But it was mostly just being impatient at myself, sitting on the chocobo for all the world like a sack of flour. Whatever the reason, I started going faster. We all did.  
  
Of course, I was still sitting on the chocobo like a sack of flour, but at least I was moving.  
  
I even started to have a little fun after a while. Zipping along a road with the wind blowing your hair straight back and making your eyes water while knowing there's not much keeping you from flying away backwards is pretty exhilarating, I have to admit. (Well. okay, maybe we weren't going that fast.) It was even better not having to fight fiends every ten steps. However, in the way of these things, just as I started enjoying it we were at the inn.  
  
It was.well, strange-looking. The sign over the door was written in some foreign language-I think it might have been Al Bhed. The building itself was painted in pinks and blues, and reflected the sunlight back into our eyes. However, it was an inn, and I wanted lunch. All that mattered, really.  
  
I squinted against the sun, looking up into the sky. From what I could tell, the sun was almost overhead. "Time for lunch," I said.  
  
I was just dismounting my chocobo and telling it that it was a good bird for putting up with me when I glimpsed a man coming toward us at a run from the inn. With the sunlight reflecting off the building-stupid way to build, really-I couldn't see his face until he was a few feet away from us. When I could see, I gasped.  
  
"O'aka?" 


	11. In Which a Dislike of High Speeds is Dis...

*Author's notes at the end.  
  
-----  
  
Chapter 11  
  
In Which a Dislike of High Speeds is Discovered  
  
-----  
  
"O'aka?" I called in surprise. I managed to dismount-or fall off of, take your pick-the chocobo. "I thought you'd still be in Luca!"  
  
O'aka waved to Kiyo and nodded to Sky. "Remember, I wanted to travel but still wanted to sell things? It's the family business," he explained. "You suggested I be a traveling merchant. And here I am, O'aka the third, Merchant Extraordinaire!" He swept a deep bow and Sakura giggled. My stomach growled.  
  
"Would you like to join us for lunch?" Sky asked.  
  
"Sorry. Sk.er, lady." Sky shook her head. "Then sorry, Sky. Can't. I already ate, and I want to get to Guadosalam before the week's out."  
  
"Where's that?" Nyk asked.  
  
"Down the road a bit. About." Sakura peered curiously at the map. "Now that can't be right."  
  
"Love that map, don't you?" Nyk said cheerfully. "Let me see." He took the parchment and wrinkled his forehead at it. "The mile scale's all off. There's no scale, actually. Just marks along the road. All different widths. No wonder. I knew it couldn't have been twenty miles to the inn. The sea part looks all nice and regular, though. Guess that's what you get from a nautical map."  
  
O'aka cleared his throat. "Don't know how far it is, exactly. The Guados live there. awful strange bunch. Look kind of like plants. Best stores in Spira, though. I'm hoping to buy supplies there."  
  
"To sell them for outrageous prices?" Sky asked, grinning. "You're notorious for that."  
  
"Maybe. You'll get a discount, though, I promise. You know, speaking of selling." He took his knapsack off his shoulder and pulled out several bottles, small bags, and weapons that shouldn't have been able to fit in his sack. "Have some items here that might interest you." He looked up hopefully."  
  
Smiling a bit, I walked over and knelt where he had spread his wares on a blanket on the ground. Sakura and Kiyo followed me, and Sky said she and Nyk would arrange for lunch inside.  
  
"The Al Bhed invented a way to customize weapons," O'aka said conversationally. "It takes years to learn how, and that isn't very practical. However, I struck a deal with some Al Bhed that I met.um, in Luca, and I managed to obtain some pre-customized weapons! Anything specific you need?"  
  
Sakura began bargaining for a quiver of arrows that she found as I picked up a small red cloth bag and opened it.  
  
"You know," remarked Kiyo, "Seeing as I just bought new knives in Luca, I really don't need anything. I'll go see what's going on inside." He stood up and left.  
  
I looked up briefly as he walked away, then turned back to the bag. Inside were dozens of small, four-pointed metal stars, in varying colors. I picked up a red one and looked at it curiously. It was warm, and ghosts of flames flew up off it every so often. There was a small stone embedded in the center.  
  
I discovered O'aka was kneeling next to me. "Those are throwing stars. Long ranged weapons that are, well, thrown. Those in there are Tetra stars. All four elements, assorted. Only five hundred gil for the lot."  
  
I chuckled. "You've improved your sales talk since I saw you last. You talked me into it." I fished the gil out of my pocket and handed it to him, dropping the red star into the bag and putting it in my pocket. They might come in handy, I thought, remembering how I'd had to throw rocks to distract the giant plant fiend we'd fought on the way to Luca. And just that morning I'd wished that I had a ranged attack to combat the dragon fiend.  
  
"Thanks," O'aka said, packing his wares away and standing up. "Might even be able to rent a chocobo to get to Guadosalam. They're pretty expensive normally. Be seeing you, then!" He waved and walked off down he road, whistling."  
  
"Who was that, anyway?" Sakura asked, slinging her new quiver over her shoulder.  
  
"O'aka. He's from Kilika, came here with Kiyo," I said. "His family's shop sold items for outrageously high prices, till they realized no one was buying anything."  
  
She grinned. "There's a fenced in area over there. We should put the chocobos in there, so nothing happens to them." I nodded and took the reins of three chocobos. Sakura took the other two, and we led them around the side of the inn.  
  
There were already several chocobos in the fenced area, probably left there by the Crusaders we'd met earlier. They had the same style of bridle, though theirs were purple and the ones on our chocobos were green.  
  
Sakura pulled the wooden gate open and herded her chocobos through it. A few of the other birds came over to investigate as I tried to force mine in. They were refusing to even go near the fence.  
  
"I don't think they like me," I said grumpily, fruitlessly trying to pull one in by the bridle. This was proved when Sakura rolled her eyes and took the reins-they followed her in, meek as kittens. She laughed, and we headed to the door of the inn.  
  
As we entered, we saw Sky, Nyk, and Kiyo sitting around a round table to the left of the door, eating cheese sandwiches and salad.  
  
"'Pparently, th' salad's Guado-grown," Kiyo said as we sat down. Sakura hit him gently on the back of the head and told him not to talk with his mouth full. He swallowed and grinned.  
  
"You mean, they just grow whole bowls of salad?" I said with exaggerated astonishment. Nyk snickered.  
  
"Yeah. See, they grow a couple rows of the blue bowls with tomato salad, a couple with green bowls and carrots." We all cracked up. "No, I'm pretty sure they just grow the lettuce. Try some. It's good."  
  
I looked dubiously at the bowl in front of me. My parents had had to trick me into eating vegetables when I was younger, and I still didn't like them. Warily picked up a forkful and looked at it.  
  
"Don't worry, it won't bite," Sky said innocently. She knew I loathed vegetables. I glared at her and stuck the lettuce in my mouth.  
  
"It is pretty good," I commented after swallowing. "I think I'll stick to sandwiches, though."  
  
The rest of lunch passed uneventfully. It was nice just to sit and joke around, rather than running around and hitting things.  
  
When we were almost done, Sakura pulled out the map again. Nyk groaned. "That thing's useless, you know."  
  
"Is not. I just don't know how far it is to anything. It was right about the inn being here, anyway." She consulted it. "We'll be passing the ocean sometime today, probably around evening. It's just as far from here to Mushroom Rock as it was to Luca. At least, they both say twenty miles, so I figure both of them are wrong in the same way. We'll probably get to Djose tomorrow."  
  
Sky raised an eyebrow. "Guess we'll just have to trust your estimates, then," she said dubiously. "I don't have much of a kind for that kind of stuff. We paid in advance for the meal, so we can go when we like."  
  
We left a few minutes later. It's much easier to get on a chocobo when you've done it before, I discovered. Barely five minutes after leaving the inn, we were all ready to go.  
  
Sakura didn't say anything for the first half hour after we set off, which was unlike her, considering the rest of us were chattering away. My curiosity got the better of me, and I rode over and asked her what was wrong.  
  
She considered for a moment. "I'm worried about Liya," she said finally. "When we said goodbye this morning. she asked when we were coming back. I mean, it's dangerous, and we. we might not. So I told her that; I didn't think it was really right to lie to her. She asked why."  
  
"What did you tell her?" I said after a moment's silence.  
  
"I.told her we might die. She asked what would happen if we died, why we wouldn't be able to come back." Sakura shrugged unhappily. "She doesn't understand. She's too young, and she was just a baby when our parents died. I'm just worried about what'll happen if we don't come back."  
  
"Don't say that," I said firmly. "We'll all be fine."  
  
Sakura smiled a bit. "Ignoring bad things doesn't always work, Rai. You need to see the big picture. I'm just. Grandfather's almost seventy. He won't live much longer. I guess I'm wondering what'll happen to Liya if neither Nyk or I come back."  
  
I shook my head. "If it happens, it happens. Don't dwell on it." She made a hmm-ing sound, but didn't say anything.  
  
~~~  
  
I didn't see the ocean at first. The setting sun was at just the right angle to shine blindingly into my eyes, and my chocobo pretty much controlled itself, as my eyes were screwed shut to protect them from the sun. And while your eyes are screwed up, you can't see much of anything. That's why I didn't see the ocean.  
  
I smelled the ocean first. A sharp, salty, slightly fishy smell hung in the air, blowing towards us with the sea breeze. As I had just been reminiscing about the many afternoons my little sister, Tami, and I had spent fishing, I at first thought it was just my imagination. I was proved wrong, however, as the path took a sharp turn to the left and the sun swung around to sit to the side of us. The Highroad was carved out of the side of a hill in this area, and the sea that lay below us was an impressive sight.  
  
The ocean wasn't blue. Or, it was only blue near the shore. Farther out it glowed orange, reflecting the sunlight. We paused and dismounted, both to take a rest and watch the ocean fade to a darker and darker hue. I winced as I got off my chocobo. I had never ridden this long before-really, I had never ridden before in the first place-and I was very sore.  
  
"I love the sea," Sky commented. "Brings back memories."  
  
"You're from Kilika, right?" Kiyo asked.  
  
"Yes.lived there most of my life."  
  
I squinted at the horizon. "There's clouds moving in.", I could see a large black splotch along the horizon, like a smear of black paint. "Hope we don't get caught in the storm."  
  
"They're moving fast," commented Nyk. He was right, I noticed-I could see the clouds move, quickly and close to the ground.  
  
Sky's head jerked towards the ocean as Nyk said this. She stared out across the water, her face unreadable, for a moment, then turned around abruptly. "Let's go!" She ran to her chocobo and tried unsuccessfully to mount it.  
  
"I don't want to be caught out in the storm either, but." Nyk said as he walked over and gave her a leg up.  
  
"Thanks. That's not a storm," she said impatiently.  
  
"Sin?" Kiyo asked in a near-whisper. Sky nodded, and we all raced over to the chocobos. Nyk helped Sakura climb on hers while she muttered something about hating being short. I managed to climb up by myself-it's amazing what you can do when doom and destruction's looking over your shoulder.  
  
The chocobos were fidgety, and started running almost as soon as I sat down. Mine stretched its head out to the front, and I had that awful feeling of slipping forward again. I clutched at the bridle, accidentally pulling the bird's head back and slowing it down. As soon as I loosened my grip, though, it was back to breakneck speed. I slid over to the left of the chocobo, and frantically grabbed the bird's neck. I stopped sliding, but I also lost the reins.  
  
About five minutes after we started off, the path faded from dirt into gravel. The chocobo began weaving and darting among the rocks standing, most inconveniently, in the middle of the path. It became more and more of a struggle to hang on, especially when a loud, echoing roar was heard behind us-the birds panicked. Well, I don't know if the others panicked-I had my eyes shut tight, and was trusting the chocobo to steer itself. If I get out of this alive, I promised myself, I will do everything in my power not to ride one of these ever again. Somehow I lost my hair ties, and my hair came partially loose and streamed out behind me. Some of it blew in my face, and I chose to concentrate on that rather than the speed at which I was moving.  
  
The path sloped sharply downwards to cut through the middle of the hill. As the steep stone and dirt walls closed in around us, I heard a low rumbling from somewhere far behind. I risked opening my eyes to see what was happening, and instantly regretted it. The scenery was a brown and gray blur, with two chocobos in front of me, and-I presumed-two behind. I screwed my eyes back up.  
  
The chocobo slowed down a bit. I think it was tired, and even fear could only drive it so hard. I risked loosening my grip, only to find that yet again, I had been inadvertently slowing the chocobo down. My last desperate grab at its neck, or anything to hold on to, proved useless, and the next thing I knew I was sailing through the air as the chocobo zoomed forward and disappeared from view behind a turn in the path.  
  
The impact of my shoulder hitting a rock tore down my spine and made me yelp. I saw a violet and yellow blur-Sakura on her chocobo-zoom past me. Sakura turned her shocked face towards me as she continued on, but apparently couldn't slow down her chocobo enough to stop.  
  
The next thing I knew, my arm was nearly pulled out of its socket. I found myself sitting in a sort of sidesaddle on the back of Kiyo's chocobo. He sighed in relief.  
  
"Thought I was going to fall off there," he yelled over the noise of the wind and the growing rumbling behind us. "You okay?"  
  
I was jerked sideways as the chocobo leaped over a rock. I found I had wrapped my arms around Kiyo's waist, hanging on for dear life.  
  
"Uh-huh," I said nervously, nodding quickly. Tears leaked out of my eyes, and I wasn't sure if they were from shock or pain.  
  
Over the course of the next few minutes, I wondered if we were ever going to get off the Highroad. It seemed as if hours had been spent riding a chocobo at hundreds of miles an hour. Probably not hundreds, I amended. Thousands. It seemed that way, anyway.  
  
All the while, the rumbling grew stronger and louder. The few looks I risked to take showed rocks and dirt being shaken from the sides of the cliffs, and the path behind us was obscured with tan and brown dust. All the time I was wishing for the chocobo to slow down, I was also wishing speed up, speed up, got to hurry, get out of here!  
  
All of a sudden the hills themselves seemed to be rumbling. Dirt rained down from somewhere high above, and my eyes stung as dust was blown into them. I didn't dare to let go to wipe them, though. I sneezed several times, just as the rumbling escalated to an unbearable level and we burst out into sunshine.  
  
Even when we stopped, I kept my eyes tightly shut. I was still shaking from the speed of our ride. I only opened them when Kiyo twisted around and said, "You need to let go for me to get off-what happened?"  
  
At first embarrassed, I opened my eyes, wondering what he was talking about. A sharp pain in my shoulder reminded me as he dismounted. Looking at it, I gasped and felt faintly sick.  
  
My shoulder was bleeding in several places, and so was my left hand. A gash ran down that arm. Why didn't I notice?! I asked myself angrily, dismounting. Sure, it had hurt, but.I collapsed as soon as I hit the ground. My legs wobbled, and my vision blurred for a moment. Finding it was easier to sit down, I sat.  
  
"What happened?" Sky demanded, walking over to me and kneeling down.  
  
"I fell off my chocobo." I gazed at my arm, faintly wondering why it hurt so much. Ah, that's right. I hit a rock, didn't I.  
  
"You've lost a lot of blood," Sky said worriedly. I didn't notice. My vision blurred and settled a few times, before blanking out completely. The last thing I saw was the dust clearing where the Highroad used to be, and finding myself facing a solid wall of rock.  
  
-----  
  
I'm actually on time! *throws confetti* Despite several more. machina troubles. Ahem. On a side note, only five days until I turn fourteen!  
  
If you check, you'll find that the Highroad did actually get destroyed five hundred years ago. (Actually, one of the reasons I chose this time to set the story in.) Maechen tells you, I think. The Highroad you travel on in the game is actually the "Newroad."  
  
And that, as they say, is that. 


	12. ‘Sign of the Heathen’?

_I found Sky sitting on the docks, staring up into the distance. The night was dark, but she seemed like she was looking at something in the stars._

_I briefly looked up. "Mommy's having the baby now. They made me go away," I said, sitting down next to her._

_Sky tapped her chin with her finger, thinking. "I wonder if I have a sister?" I shrugged. "Or a brother? I think so… I don't know." _

_I looked at her curiously. I had only known her for a few months, and had never asked her where she came from. "Why not?"_

_She looked down at the water. "I don't know. I don't know anything."_

_"You know lots of things." I searched for an example. "You can read."_

_"So can you."_

_"Not really. And you can write."_

_"But I didn't know how to talk, a year  ago. That's not what I meant, anyway. I mean, I don't know where I came from."_

_"Why not?"_

_That probably wasn't the best question, but who ever said I was tactful? Sky stood up. "I'm gonna go find Jen. She said she'd show me the pictures in the sky."_

_"Can I come?"_

_"Sure."_

_We trotted down the docks back to the village proper. "She's up there," Sky said, pointing. There were several levels of wooden paths in Kilika, the lowest right on the water and the highest a couple feet taller than my six-year-old head. They obviously weren't right on top of each other, though. No one would be able to walk on them. Of course, mommy had had to explain to me that that was why. I could fit under them fine._

_"Do you see those stars in the shape of an upside-down question mark?" Jen said as we approached. "That's the constellation of Ifrit."_

_"And those two stars up there are his horns, right?" a boy older than me asked eagerly.  Sky sat down and looked up, like she had been when I first found her. I sighed—Sky seemed nice, and I was spending time with her to make friends with her, but I didn't like trying to find pictures in the sky. I always got frustrated. I don't like to be frustrated. I sat down anyway, resigned._

_"I think I see one!" another girl said excitedly. "Those up there look like a shoopuf!"_

_All I could see was a shapeless blob._ "It's possible. I mean, a shoopuf with a house on its back is a shapeless blob…there are a lot of clouds that look like shapeless blobs." _A familiar voice floated up into my mind, waking me from…from…_

The sudden pain in my shoulder did more good to wake me up than anything. I gasped and winced, then regretted moving. All of a sudden, a cool green light washed over the inside of my eyelids, and I opened my eyes.

Sky was leaning over me, her hands hovering just above my shoulder, a green light flowing from them. She smiled a relieved smile when I looked at her, then the green light faded into nothing.

"Where…" was my first question. I was lying on a bed that probably wasn't stuffed with feathers, but it was more comfortable than the ground. Looking at the wooden walls around us, I realized we were inside.

"A Crusader base, foot of Mushroom Rock. How are you feeling?"

"Fine."

"You sure?" she asked worriedly.

"Yeah." As I said that, my shoulder started throbbing. It didn't hurt anywhere near as badly as it did at first, but it was still painful.  "No."

Sky's face fell. "Me and Nyk've been using Cura on your shoulder for a couple days now. It looks like your shoulder'll heal fine, but…it'll probably still hurt."

"No kidding," I grumbled.

"Yes, well. At least you'll be able to use your arm."

I looked at her curiously. "How bad was I hurt?"

Sky sat back. "You wouldn't have died, if that's what you're asking. All I'm saying is I'm really, really glad we have two healers. Go to sleep now. It'll help your shoulder heal."

"I've been asleep for a few days," I grumbled.

"It's not the same. It doesn't make you feel any better. Believe me, I've had experience," Sky said in a lecturing tone. "Go to sleep." With that, she left the room.

I craned my neck to the side to look at the back of my shoulder. I couldn't see it very well, but there was a large, raised area of new pink skin that contrasted sharply with my perpetual tan. (It comes of living in a tropical climate.) Smaller scars surrounded it. I was fairly glad that I didn't really remember what it had looked like before.

I think I dropped off to sleep about then, because when I woke up the sun was slanting through the window at an angle that told me it was near evening. I was pretty sure it had been around breakfast before.

Whatever time it was, I felt a lot better. My shoulder kind of throbbed, but it was annoying rather than painful. _Thank Yevon for magic_, I thought as I swung my legs over the side of the bed. The healing salve many people used in Kilika for scrapes stung and itched, even though it did heal. I noticed my shoulder was now wrapped in a sort of white gauze, and my wavy brown hair was hanging loose. I dimly recalled losing my hair ties somewhere on the Highroad. 

A search for my shoes proved futile, but at least I was still dressed. I felt a bit tottery and weak as I walked to the door of the room and peered out. The hall outside was built of some sort of stone that, even though it had apparently been used to give the walls a wood-paneled look, looked almost, but not quite, entirely unlike wood. Seeing no one, I decided to try to find the rest of my party.

After three turns, six doors, and at least two dead ends before I admitted the fact I was hopelessly lost. "This place is like a maze," I muttered. Resolving to ask the next person I found how to find Sky and the others, I picked a likely looking wooden door and opened it.

The room I looked into must have been a library—the walls were hidden behind shelves, and at least half of these were full of leather-bound books. A woman was standing across the room, running her hand along the bindings of the books. She was…odd-looking, to say the least.

She was dark-haired and thin, which in and of itself wasn't odd. However, she was wearing a long-sleeved shirt that showed her midriff and seemed to be made out of a kind of rubbery cloth. Her baggy shorts came to mid-thigh, and she was wearing boots up to her knees.

Although no one I knew would dare to go out in clothes like these, she didn't seem odd apart from that. I cleared my throat, but what I was going to say stuck in my throat as she turned around.

The room wasn't very large, so I could see her face clearly. She had a pair of goggles hanging around her neck and ribbons woven through small braids on either side of her face, but those things didn't register at the moment. What shocked me into forgetting what I had been about to say was her eyes. They were a dark green, but not dark enough to hide her spiral pupils.

The woman was an Al Bhed.

She looked at me curiously as thoughts ran through my head. At first I felt a bit disappointed—the way my mother talked about Al Bheds, I had been expecting horns or fangs or something. I looked carefully for some sign of her 'heathen-ness', but if you put her in normal clothes and changed her eyes, she could have passed for a Yevonite.

"Yes?" she said slowly.

"Er, I…" I was very confused until my mind settled on one point—no matter what she looked like, she was definitely an Al Bhed. Therefore, she was a heathen, and therefore, I shouldn't be talking to her. I sort of regretted having to dislike her—I had thought she looked nice when I first saw her. Oh, well, she couldn't be nice if she was a heathen, anyway. "I was looking for Summoner Sky."

She was silent for a moment. "I…not know good Spiran," she said carefully. "You…want find Summoner?"

"Yes." It would be rude to leave now, heathen or no.

"I show you." She beckoned to me and led the way out the door.

"You know Al Bhed?" she said as we walked.

"No."

"Pity. Much easy." We turned left, then right. "My name Nirae."

"Hello."

"Your name?"

"Rai." I felt sort of bad. She was obviously trying to be nice, and here I was, being rude. Couldn't be helped, I guess.

She paused. "Which Summoner?"

"There's more than one here?" I said, startled out of my one-word responses.

"Yes. Just came. You want Lady Rissa or Lady Sky?"

"Er. Lady Sky." Nirae made another right, then paused at a door. "You dnyjam… travel with Kiyo, no?"

I nodded.

"Tell him something?" I nodded again. "E'mm frylg oui ev oui tuh'd."

I blinked. "What?"

She pulled a piece of paper and a pencil out of her pocket and wrote something down. She then handed it to me. "It okay. Al Bhed hard. Give to him?"

I considered. "…okay." She nodded and walked back the way we had come. I couldn't think why she wanted to tell Kiyo something. _Huh…_ I thought as I pushed open the door.

Sakura was sitting in a chair with her feet on a stool, reading a book. Kiyo was leaning over a leather cylinder, doing something. Sky and Nyk were nowhere to be seen.

"Done," Kiyo said with a satisfied air. He looked up and saw me.

"Rai!" he said, surprised. "You're okay?"

"Fine," I said irritably. "I'd be in bed if I wasn't fine."

He frowned and walked over to Sakura, who had been watching this little exchange. "Here," he said, handing her the leather cylinder. I recognized it as one of her armguards. The bowstring of a bow could snap back and hit your arm, she had explained to me, and that was what the armguard was for.

She looked up. "You sure?"

I sighed and sat down. "Yes, I'm sure."

"You're grumpy," she commented.

"Humph."

Kiyo laughed out loud. "You are, you know."

I stared at the note the woman had given to me. I couldn't make heads or tails of it—and was torn between wanting to know what it said and the aversion to the Al Bhed. "An Al Bhed—Nirae—told me to give this to you," I said, handing out the note. Kiyo took it and stared at it quizzically, before chuckling and stuffing the note in his pocket. 

"You can read Al Bhed?' Sakura asked, interested.

"Yeah. Growing up with them and all, I had to learn it in self-defense."

"What did it say?" I'd ask him how he put up with being around the Al Bhed later.

"She's my friend from Bevelle," he explained. "We had a bit of a quarrel yesterday. She wanted me to come back on the ship that's here. So I said I wanted to go by way of Sky's pilgrimage, and she got mad at me."

"And what did the note say?"

"That she'll whack me if I don't come back to Bevelle," he said, grinning. He obviously found the whole thing very amusing.

I shrugged and looked at Sakura. "Where's Sky?"

"Off somewhere." Sakura waved her hand in a dismissive gesture. She seemed very involved in her book. Her hand covered the front, but the words on the back said something about the Crusaders. 

"Nyk?"

"Off somewhere. Don't worry. It's a Crusader's base. Nothing'll happen to them," she said, slightly amused.

I gave up on both of them and stared at the wall. It was a very interesting wall, with a small window in it. I got up and walked over, to find it looked out over a small garden and the ocean. I must have been about three stories up, judging by how far away the garden looked. It was drizzling slightly, but there was a small roofed porch off one of the three doors leading towards the garden. I thought it was odd for there to be a garden in a military base, and said so. 

"Says here," Sakura said, pointing to her book, "that the Crusaders live in their bases most of the year. Some of them probably like to garden." She shrugged, and I turned back to the window.

Continuing my idle observation of the garden, I saw Nyk sitting on a stone bench under the roof of the porch. Sky was leaning against him, writing industriously in something. As I watched, Nyk looked up and saw me. He nudged Sky, who also looked up.

She yelled something I couldn't hear, and I shrugged and shook my head. She and Nyk both stood up, then disappeared from view as they went inside.

I sighed and returned to my seat. However, as I was feeling particularly antsy right then, I jumped up almost immediately and started to peruse the bookshelves. Not finding anything to my liking, I sat down again. The books were mostly history.

"You have any hair ties?" I asked Sakura.

She shrugged, not looking up. "Probably. I lose about five a day, so I've got to have lost of extras."

Sakura and Nyk entered the room then. "Are you okay?" Nyk asked when he saw me.

Sky walked over to me and looked at me worriedly. "Are you sure it's a good idea for you to be up?"

"I'm fine, and yes," I grumbled. "It's boring, sleeping. This place doesn't seem like a very nice place to stay, anyway. Stony and cold."

"We should probably leave soon, then," Sky mused. "Your shoulder probably _is_ fine. Magic cures easy." I realized that was why no one had really asked me any more inventive questions than 'Are you okay?' They knew I was fine, really. 

I think it was at that point I started really missing my mom. She would have insisted I needed to spend another day or so in bed, with plenty of tea and soup and that annoying stinging herbal slop she used to put on my skinned knees. Here people were treating me like I was old enough to know when my shoulder was healed enough to walk, but I had never wished more for someone to baby me.

I realized that as I had been thinking, everyone else had agreed with Sky. I took a deep breath. _You're old enough to make your own decisions, now._

"Let's leave as soon as we can."


End file.
